Hawks move to third with win over 36ers

The Illawarra Hawks are now the form team of the NBL and have risen to third position after cruising to a 97-83 win over the Adelaide 36ers in Wollongong on Sunday.

A crowd of 3004 turned out at the WIN Entertainment Centre to begin a big five days for Illawarra on their home floor with three matches in that period after they scored a crucial win over in New Zealand against the Breakers on Friday.

The Hawks just needed to take care of business against the out of contention 36ers in front of their home fans on Sunday afternoon, and they did what was needed to be in control virtually from start to finish.

Illawarra did lead by as much as 25 points at one stage in the contest before winning by 14 after Adelaide showed some grit to finish the game strongly to win the final quarter with little used big Jack Purchase coming on and knocking down three straight three-pointers.

But the win was all that the Hawks needed to come away with and they were never really in danger of not getting it as they made it seven wins in their last eight matches to improve to a 19-15 record on the season and to leapfrog the South East Melbourne Phoenix in third position.

The Hawks will lock away a finals spot with a win at home to the Perth Wildcats on Tuesday or will face a critical contest also in Wollongong against the Sydney Kings on Thursday.

The Hawks set the game up in the first half by executing well offensively and not giving up a single turnover. By the end of the game, they had eight players scoring at least six points and that didn’t even include their second-leading scorer on the season, Justinian Jessup, who had three points on 1/8.

Tyler Harvey was terrific once again with 23 points, six rebounds and five assists but he had so many helpers with Sam Froling delivering 14 points (fie rebounds, three assists), Tim Coenraad 12 (4/6 from three), Daniel Grida 10, Deng Deng nine, AJ Ogilvy nine (six rebounds, three blocks) and Isaac White eight (five boards).

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian couldn’t have been happier with the way his team took care of business against the 36ers.

"I felt really good about it. The game in New Zealand was very emotional and everybody in the locker room was as excited as I've seen the team all year, it was such a huge win for us," Goorjian said.

"And then fronting up with a quick return like this for 3 o'clock in the afternoon, there's no complaints, but for me as a coach you question if they can go there again and how we're going to be in our style of play. That involves energy, communication and a lot of those things. 

"I saw it right from the first two, three minutes of the game and they were on it, the bench was alive and ready, and they are all communicating down there. The energy on the floor defensively was there and I just felt we were in a really good position with how we want to play. 

"I felt good once that ball went up and I saw the first two minutes. I thought we were who we need to be right now heading into these last games."

Adelaide did at least fight the game out despite being out of finals contention and playing their second last match of the season. Ultimately though, conceding 97 points, being outrebounded and giving up 16 turnovers made life tough.

Sunday Dech regained some offensive form for 15 points with Brandon Paul finishing with 13 points and five assists, Keanu Pinder 11 points and 11 rebounds, Tony Crocker 10 points, Daniel Johnson nine points and eight boards, Brendan Teys nine points and Jack Purchase nine points on 3/3 shooting from deep.

Illawarra now takes on the Perth Wildcats on Tuesday and Sydney Kings on Thursday back on their home deck needing to win one to guarantee a finals berth while two will give them a good shot at remaining third.

The 36ers finish their season with one final game against Melbourne United next Sunday with the venue to be confirmed.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 20

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 97 (Harvey 23, Froling 14, Coenraad 12)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 83 (Dech 15, Paul 13, Pinder 11) 

BOX SCORE