Jessup drives Illawarra to NBL victory

Import Justinian Jessup produced a sizzling third-quarter shooting performance to propel Illawarra to a 102-87 win over the New Zealand Breakers and into the NBL top four.

The game in Tasmania on Tuesday night was up for grabs until halfway through the third quarter when American Jessup imposed himself on the contest.

He piled up 14 points in the quarter and the Hawks went on a 15-0 run to establish a double-digit lead.

That lead ballooned to 23 in the final quarter.

The victory moved Illawarra to 10-7 for the season and up above the Sydney Kings into fourth.

The last placed Breakers dropped to 4-11.

They were without several key players, including dominant centre Yanni Wetzell and club stalwart Tom Abercrombie.

Other players stepped up in the first half, especially Kyrin Galloway and Sam Timmins, but with coach Dan Shamir only giving seven players significant court time the Breakers fell away in the second half.

The biggest first-half lead was six to Illawarra, with the Hawks up by just two at the half before Jessup stepped up with the NSW team shooting at 55 per cent from the field.

Jessup top-scored with 23 while fellow import Tyler Harvey added 19, with six Hawks getting into double figures.

"I think we're getting better ... I like the way we're playing a ton better than how we started the season," Hawks' coach Brian Goorjian told ESPN.

"And he (Jessup) is a big part of it too, I think he's becoming a much more all-round player than just a shooter.

"He's starting to gain confidence and he's starting to touch the ball more because the ball is moving more.

"I just thought tonight there was more of an energy in everything we did, whether it was cutting, running the floor, putting pressure on the ball.

"We're still