BNZ BREAKERS TREAT RAUCOUS HOME CROWD TO BIG OPENING NIGHT WIN

The BNZ Breakers gave the club’s new head coach Gordie Herbert, and its home fans, plenty to cheer as they defeated the Illawarra Hawks 91-81 at Spark Arena in the opening round of the 2026-27 Australian NBL season.

Herbert was quick to praise the impact of the home crowd, and the effort of his players.

“First of all, I want to thank the crowd that was here, it was a good crowd and working towards that sixth man mentality. I congratulate our players, I thought their effort was outstanding, we had some really good individual efforts but I thought our team mentality was great first and foremost.”

There was plenty to please their World Cup winning coach. Parker Jackson-Cartwright orchestrated the win with a double- double of 23 points and 13 rebounds while Sam Mennenga was his powerful best with 27 points and 8 rebounds.

The polished DJ Vasiljevic showed all that he is going to bring to the team and more, bringing the scoring punch and basketball IQ the club have signed him to provide as he made 6 from 10 from beyond the arc for 24 points.  Another new signing in Canadian centre Charles Bediako showed his promise too, with 6 points and 7 rebounds while the experienced Reuben Te Rangi made 3 from 5 from deep as he tallied a valuable 11 points.

For the Hawks, the much-hyped guardline of Will Hickey (18 points), Tyler  Harvey (14) and Milton Doyle (10) all contributed but were largely suffocated in doing so, going a combined 13 from 34 as the BNZ Breakers defence stifled the normally free scoring trio.

The two debutants in the starting line-up, Vasiljevic and Bediako were early contributors as the Breakers openeda 13-4 lead. When Te-Rangi added to the advantage with his first points of the night, he became just the eighth Kiwi to score 2,000 points in the NBL.

The Hawks responded late in the first quarter and at one point threatened to lead, however the hosts stayed composed to lead 28-24 at quarter time.

The Hawks scored the opening five points of the second period and did take the lead although that was quickly eradicated as Mennenga and Jackson-Cartwright combined for ten points, the dominant duo almost sensing a need for them to step up.

“Third quarter we responded and made a good run, Reuben gave us great minutes off the bench, at both ends of the floor, he made some shots but also his defensive presence, he won some battles. I thought our fight and winning battles was a big key to us taking a comfortable lead there.”

The visitors struck back with triples from Harvey and Blanchfield before Vasiljevic replied in kind for the Breakers. Bediako was the recipient of a delicious Jackson-Cartwright assist to complete the alley-oop play and carry the Breakers to a 54-47 half-time lead, much to the delight of an increasingly engaged home crowd.

Vasiljevic continued with the hot hand to extend the Breakers lead into double figures in the opening exchanges of the second half. The Hawks rallied in the closing stages of the third to close within seven points (68-61) only for Te Rangi to hit back-to-back triples and Jackson-Cartwright a pull up jump shot to make it a 76-61 Breakers lead with a quarter to play.

With the mercurial Jackson-Cartwright pulling the strings an Illawarra comeback never threatened. Having swept the Hawks last season the win is the fifth straight victory against the Hawks for the Breakers.

The BNZ Breakers have a short turnaround as they visit the Brisbane Bullets on Tuesday September 22 (tip-off 9.30pm NZT) and will stay in Australia to face Perth on Saturday, a challenging 3 games in 6 days to get NBL27 underway.

BNZ Breakers 95 – Mennenga 27 pts & 8 rebs, Vasiljevic 24 pts, Jackson-Cartwright 23 pts & 13 asts, TeRangi 11 pts, Bediako 6 pts & 8 rebs

Illawarra Hawks 81 – Hickey 18 pts, Harvey 14 pts, Martin 13 pts

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