Hawks' big three fire for big win in Cairns

With a triple-double from Davo Hickey, hot shooting performance from QJ Peterson and more dominance from JaVale McGee, it was a triple threat behind the Illawarra Hawks beating the Cairns Taipans 107-90 on Friday.

Hickey delivered the first triple-double of the NBL season at the Cairns Convention Centre with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists.

Peterson put up 22 points on 4/6 three-point shooting with McGee again dominant inside with 28 points, six rebounds and two assists on 12/13 field goal shooting.

McGee was fresh off the best scoring night of his entire professional career with 37 points and 14 rebounds in Wednesday night's home win for the reigning champs.

The Snakes had snapped their losing run in Tasmania last Saturday but had to come up with something inventive on McGee. They went super small and not turn to their own veteran centre Marcus Lee.

It's hard to say it didn't work with the Taipans knocking down 10 first-half three-pointers to only trail by four at the break with Mojave King hitting three of those on his best career night.

The Taipans were in touch before McGee scored six quick points to open the second half, and the Hawks began to pull away.

Despite having shot 4/23 in his first three NBL games, Peterson hit two triples to close the third quarter for Illawarra's lead to grow to 13 before they closed the deal for the 17-point victory.

It's back-to-back wins for the Hawks as their championship defence builds momentum at 4-6 and it was without another of their stars, Tyler Harvey, having a big say with 11 points on 1/8 three-point shooting.

Mason Peatling also had 14 points and four assists with Wani Swaka Lo Buluk another strong all-round showing with six points, three rebounds and two assists to go with his defensive efforts.

Cairns remain in last place at 3-9 and while they sorely missed Sam Waardenburg and Reyne Smith, it was a night of opportunities for others.

In just his third game since signing to replace the injured Alex Higgins-Titsha, King had the best game of his 76-game NBL career with 32 points on 13/16 shooting overall and 6/8 from deep.

Kyrin Galloway also had 15 points and seven rebounds with Jack McVeigh adding 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Import pair Admiral Schofield (11 points, four rebounds, four assists) and Andrew Andrews (10 points, eight assists) battled hard.

The Hawks scored the first four points and then were leading 7-2 when Wani Swaka Lo Buluk hit a three ball, but Cairns settled nicely thanks to new signing Mojave King.

He scored seven quick points to level scores at 7-7 on his way to 10 points in the opening term with Cairns continuing to go small aside from the 2:32 that Marcus Lee came on for.

They knocked down four triples to keep pace with the Hawks despite the 11 points from JaVale McGee who helped the Hawks cling to the 25-22 advantage.

McGee then added five more quick points early in the second term to help Illawarra to the seven-point edge, but the Snakes responded with a three-point barrage with King, Admiral Schofield, Andrew Andrews and Kyrin Galloway.

Tyler Harvey and Davo Hickey hit from downtown to keep the Hawks on top 52-48 by half-time with the Snakes staying close with the 10 three-point makes.

McGee opened up the second half with a three-point conversion and then hitting his second three-point bomb of the night for the lead to be 10, and by three quarter-time it had grown to 13 on the back of a pair of triples from QJ Peterson.

The Taipans did fight the game out but the Hawks had all the answers with Peterson landing another couple of three balls in the final period to help the reigning champs to the 17-point win.

The Taipans have a full week before also hosting the South East Melbourne Phoenix next Friday night while the Hawks are next in action next Sunday in their first clash with the Sydney Kings for NBL26 at Qudos Bank Arena.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26

CAIRNS TAIPANS 90 (King 32, Galloway 15, McVeigh 13)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 107 (McGee 28, Peterson 22, Hickey 19)

BOX SCORE