A horror eye injury to New Zealand Breakers forward Akil Mitchll has cast a dark shadow over the home team's 94-81 NBL loss to Cairns in Auckland on Thursday night.
The American fell to the floor in agony early in the final quarter after what seemed to be an innocuous poke to the face while contesting a rebound with Taipans centre Nnanna Egwu resulted in his left eyeball coming out of its socket.
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Akil Mitchell suffers horrific eye injury
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The New Zealand Breakers forward's eye appeared to have been partially dislodged in an accidental clash with a Cairns Taipans player.
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Akil Mitchell suffers horrific eye injury
The New Zealand Breakers forward's eye appeared to have been partially dislodged in an accidental clash with a Cairns Taipans player.
The injury left his teammates visibly upset, along with fans near the baseline.
Some Breakers players gathered in a huddle to say a prayer for the 24-year-old former University of Virginia player.
The game was halted for about 15 minutes before Mitchell returned to his feet and was assisted from the North Shore Events Centre, his head covered by a towel.
He was taken by ambulance to hospital for treatment.
"Our thoughts are with Akil Mitchell following a terrible eye injury," the NBL tweeted.
Nobody from the Breakers was immediately available for comment but Taipans captain Cameron Gliddon passed on his wishes.
"It was really hard to see a player go down like that, it's hard to watch and we all send our thoughts to Akil," he said.
Mitchell was easily the Auckland team's best performer before the injury with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The Breakers struggled to lift after his exit, with an eight-point deficit ballooning out to 15, from which they never recovered.
Gliddon shot a game-high 26 points.
Cairns were deserved winners, completing a 4-0 sweep of the Breakers to climb from seventh to a mid-table berth with an 11-12 record.
The Breakers' (12-13) four-match winning streak grinds to halt.
They are caught in a dogfight for the three playoff spots alongside runaway leaders Adelaide.
In better injury news, the Tall Blacks' Tom Abercrombie returned from a broken hand after nearly a month on the sideline.
He looked short of a gallop with 11 points. Kirk Penney (18) and Mika Vukona (16) were the most-productive Breakers.
Gliddon landed his first six three-pointers and finished with seven in total, while veteran forward Alex Loughton shot 21 points and was part of a strong rebounding display.
The Breakers are away to Sydney on Sunday while Cairns host last-placed Brisbane on the same day.
AAP