A sad ending to a difficult season for the NZ Breakers with a big loss and tempers flaring internally at Spark Arena.
The Breakers were beaten 96-82 by Illawarra as their season came to a close and coach Petteri Koponen and Matt Mooney clashed.
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For the table-toppin Hawks Tyler Harvey finished with 29 points and eight assists on 6/11 three-point shooting to lead the visitors to their 19th win of the season to be locked away in top spot for the first time.
The Breakers did keep things competitive through the first half with the Hawks leading 49-40 at the break, but Illawarra went 15/16 at the foul line while having 11 offensive rebounds for 10 second chance points, and 14 assists to four turnovers.
The home side were already without Parker Jackson-Cartwright and then from midway through the second quarter were minus fellow import guard Mooney after he had a heated exchange with coach Koponen.
When that continued in the locker room at half-time, he was asked to stay there and then the Hawks took complete control of the contest to open the second half.
"You know, nobody's bigger than the team, and it's my job to protect the team," Koponen said.
"You can yell at me, but you have to respect your teammates.
"It's kind of the heat of the moment and we're going to have a conversation with Matt about this.
"We are human. Sometimes we make mistakes. We just have to learn from this."
On the court the Hawks got out to a lead as big as 26 points before winning by 14. Along with what Harvey produced, Todd Blanchfield continued to thrive in the absence of Days with 17 points and four rebounds.
Sam Froling delivered 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, and Davo Hickey 10 points, nine assists, four rebounds and four steals.
The Breakers finish a season that started so promisingly at 7-3 at 10-19.
Tacko Fall produced 16 points, five rebounds, three blocks and two steals with Next Star Karim Lopez adding 12 points and five boards, and Max Darling 10 points on 2/2 from downtown.
The Breakers finished with a 10-win, 19-loss record in ninth place with only the Cairns Taipans below them.
Illawarra Hawks 96 (Tyler Harvey 29, Todd Blanchfield 17, Sam Froling 14), NZ Breakers 82 (Tacko Fall 16, Karim Lopez 12, Max Darling 10)