Bruce Three Sees Kings Break Hawks Hearts

Tyler Harvey put in a dazzling fourth quarter performance to appear to lead the Illawarra Hawks to a drought breaking win, but then Shaun Bruce snapped their hearts in half with a three-pointer on the buzzer to give the Sydney Kings the 83-82 win.

It was yet another chapter in the remarkable Freeway Series rivalry in front of a massive 11,032 crowd at Qudos Bank Arena. The Hawks looked to have done enough thanks to Harvey's 32 points with 16 in the fourth quarter, but the door was left open.

Davo Hickey appeared the Illawarra hero blocking Bruce's drive to the basket with the Hawks up two. But time was left on the clock, Angus Glover found Bruce on the inbounds pass and the 262-game veteran guard showed ice in his veins to knock it down for the walk off winner.

Afterwards, Bruce was beaming after hitting the game winner after a bit of a tough game and enjoyed his celebration while crediting the Hawks for their performance.

"To put the shot on its own, it's right up there but the rest of the game was pretty rough. It was a great feeling, we've had a lot of great wins here at Qudos since I've played here, and it feels good to contribute to one tonight," Bruce said. 

"The celebration spoke for itself a little bit and those things just come out in the moment, but no disrespect to them. They had a great game and played us really hard, and they should have won that game so credit to them."

Both teams were playing their first game since the FIBA break and neither was at full strength. Sydney was missing Grand Final MVP Xavier Cooks and Illawarra without import duo Peyton Siva and George King, but what it all added up to was a dramatic afternoon.

Sydney had six players score in double-figures and despite shooting just 8/33 from deep, found away to pull out the way to maintain top spot at 8-2.

Glover finished up top-scoring with 13 points, five rebounds and four assists while Tim Soares contributed 12 points and four boards, Derrick Walton Jr 12 points and seven assists, DJ Vasiljevic 10 points and five rebounds, and Justin Simon 10 points and eight boards.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE ?<br><br>THE SYDNEY KINGS HAVE DONE IT AGAIN ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live &amp; free ? 10 Peach &amp; 10play | Live on ESPN via Kayo &amp; Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/CvxWVxOkI8">pic.twitter.com/CvxWVxOkI8</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1594224331453702144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It was a heartbreaking way to lose for a Hawks team who showed great heart to come back from being 13 points down and be in a winning position trying to avoid an eighth consecutive loss. 

Harvey was brilliant with 32 points on 13/23 shooting with 4/9 from downtown while fellow co-captain Sam Froling had 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Hickey had his breakout NBL performance with nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals with Mangok Mathiang stepping up for nine points and five boards.

Hawks coach Jacob Jackomas was proud of his team's effort not only on the back of their losing run and losing two imports, but other outside noise directed their way.

"A lot's been said about us obviously with the way we are which isn’t true and you've just got to tip your hat off to them now," Jackomas said.

"We've got development players running our team and guys that are fighting for roster spots doing a great job running our team. We've got guys that everyone likes to have a crack at because they're not doing well picking themselves up.

"We're in a situation where you've got our record and a lot of teams would roll over, but that's not us. With the FIBA break, it was a little two-week hiatus from the media and opinions, and I don’t know if we can do that all the time. 

"They're a very good basketball team, but we showed a bit today and I hope that people get around the guys because they are doing what they can to win a basketball game."

Tim Soares gave Sydney the perfect start knocking down a three ball but the Hawks kept pace with the reigning champs for most of the first quarter even with Kouat Noi hitting a three, and Shaun Bruce doing the same after a sloppy Illawarra backcourt turnover.

A strong and-one from Angus Glover helped Sydney lead 25-19 after one before the lead got out to 11 early in the second term on the back of a triple from Jaylin Galloway and inside bucket to Soares.

However, just as the signs were getting ominous, the Hawks responded and it included Mangok Mathiang providing a strong inside presence and Davo Hickey giving a spark with the ball in his hands.

When Hickey hit a triple just before half-time, the Hawks were on an 11-2 run and by half-time had cut the Sydney advantage to 42-39 with both teams combining to shoot 6-23 from deep – the Kings 4/16 and Hawks 2/7.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tyler Harvey, stop it ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live &amp; free ? 10 Peach &amp; 10play | Live on ESPN via Kayo &amp; Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/2RLFCIdzQI">pic.twitter.com/2RLFCIdzQI</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1594222723219144705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Kings threatened to pull away early in the second half after a couple of buckets to DJ Vasiljevic, but the Hawks were able to respond with an 8-0 run topped off by Hickey to take a 50-49 lead.

Chase Buford called for time and got the response he was after with the Kings hitting the next nine points including a triple from Glover. When he nailed another soon after, Sydney was up 11 and still by nine at three quarter-time.

It was Tyler Harvey's turn to take over the contest in the fourth quarter to try and will the Hawks to the win. He hit two triples as part of a 10-0 run for Illawarra where he scored all 10 points to put them in front with 5:40 to play.

Another 8-2 run pushed Illawarra out to a four-point edge with co-captains Harvey and Froling doing the heavy lifting and throwing the gauntlet down to the defending champions.

Sydney hit back with the next four points from Justin Simon and Glover, but then Harvey showed his class with a tough shot with Illawarra up two with 32 seconds to go.

A strong block from Froling on Hunter kept Illawarra up two before Tim Coenraad hit two free-throws and then Shaun Bruce quickly scored a layup to maintain the status quo.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">From the logo ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live &amp; free ? 10 Peach &amp; 10play | Live on ESPN via Kayo &amp; Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/Rl8MdhTKl3">pic.twitter.com/Rl8MdhTKl3</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1594218272974458880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

However, 359-game veteran Coenraad then missed two free-throws with seven seconds left. Eventually, Bruce knocked down the corner three on the inbounds pass and after a nervy review, the Kings celebrated.

It was the only game for both teams in Round 7 with the Hawks next in action in seven days' time away to the South East Melbourne Phoenix. The Kings don't play until facing the Taipans in Cairns on Monday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 7

SYDNEY KINGS 83 (Glover 13, Walton Jr 12, Soares 12)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 82 (Harvey 32, Froling 17, Mathiang 9, Hickey 9) 

BOX SCORE