NBL confirms decision after leaking roof incident in Wollongong game

The NBL confirmed on Monday evening, that the Illawarra Hawks-New Zealand Breakers game over the weekend, will stand with its original 65-52 result, with the win going to the Breakers.

The league reviewed submissions from the Hawks and Breakers, following the decision to abandon Sunday's game at the WIN Entertainment Centre. The game, which was called off with three minutes remaining in the third quarter due to rain getting onto the game court, was stopped due to player safety considerations.

“As we said following the game, these were highly unusual circumstances and we had no choice but to call the game off to protect the safety of the players because of the leaking roof," NBL Commissioner Jeremy Loeliger said. “Having reviewed submissions from both clubs, we believe it would be both inequitable and impractical for us to replay the game or complete the time remaining. Under the rules, over a half of the game must be completed to declare a result. Given this has occurred in this instance, we believe this is the fairest outcome and the result will stand.”

Earlier on Monday afternoon, before the league's decision was announced, the Illawarra Mercury reported that Illawarra would push for a replay.

"We definitely want to challenge the result, personally I'd love to see the game replayed," Flinn said. "Whether or not that happens, there's a lot of factors at play here with scheduling and travel and recovery and things like that. It was disappointing the way it finished and as competitors, professional coaches, players you never want to see a result go that way.

"For us, we want to play every game as if it's our last and we feel a little cheated at the moment that we didn't get a result. Obviously [our] record is what it is but, from our position, it doesn't change the way we approach the game. With the growth mindset we've got we're moving forward with this club. We've got a lot of young guys who want every opportunity they can so hopefully we get another crack."

“These unfortunate things happen and it’s out of our control,” Breakers coach Dan Shamir said after the game on Sunday. “All we can do is wait for a decision from the league, which should come early this week. We appreciate there is a process they must go through and we will wait to see what the result is. We played 27 strong minutes today and showed we are continuing to get better each and every day.

“After a tough start to the year, we’ve come together really well the past two months, to give us a chance of playing finals - which has been our goal all along.”

The league ruling leaves the Breakers with a 13-13 season record and fifth on the ladder, with a chance at making the postseason.

The NBL's announcement also confirmed that this outcome is open to appeal from both teams, within 24 hours of the announcement.