Hawks Too Much for 36ers for Third Time in NBL22

The Illawarra Hawks started on fire and then recovered from an Adelaide 36ers fightback in the third quarter to overpower them for the third time in #NBL22, winning 87-71 on Friday night.

The Hawks were playing their 11th game already at WIN Entertainment Centre this season and needed to bounce back from a home loss to the Tasmania JackJumpers on Sunday.

They had already beaten the Sixers twice this season but Adelaide came into Wollongong after beating the Cairns Taipans and trying to build some momentum themselves, but it was all the Hawks early.

Duop Reath put up seven points early to help Illawarra to an 8-2 start before their lead grew to 19 during the second quarter when Justinian Jessup put up 12 points in no time.

However, Adelaide fired back to start the second half and late in the third quarter scores were tied when Daniel Johnson hit from downtown. From that moment it was all Illawarra though.

The Hawks outscored the 36ers 30 points to 14 the rest of the way to end up winning by 16 and at least for now, move back into fourth position.

Duop Reath top-scored for the winners with 18 points to go with eight rebounds while Justinian Jessup added 17 points and Tyler Harvey 12.

But the surprise spark came from Isaac White who put up 14 points and seven rebounds including two threes in the fourth quarter to put his team back in control.

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian was delighted with what was a crucial win.

"I'm really pleased with tonight. I thought the energy and the effort was there, I thought we got contribution for a lot of people and we're just over the halfway mark with everyone playing now," Goorjian said.

"What's great about this competition is you're playing to survive, and up 19 you see it on a regular basis it means nothing. Everyone's going to fight it out and if we lose tonight it's like you're out of it so I'm more on that page about the game. 

"During this process we've had a lot of negative and a lot of things haven’t gone our way, and we haven’t played as well as we should have at times which has cost us. 

"But from my standpoint, it's a great opportunity to evaluate everybody in the organisation during this time, and I've learned a lot about my team. There's been no finger pointing, just hard work and the guys that haven’t been playing have been grinding like Isaac to try and get in there, and make us better each day."

Sunday Dech was on fire shooting from beyond the arc again on his old home floor going 5/8 for Adelaide on his way to 18 points, five rebounds and two blocks.

Daniel Johnson added 13 points and eight rebounds for the 36ers, and Todd Withers 13 points, seven boards and two huge blocks on Reath and White respectively. Cam Bairstow pulled in 13 rebounds with eight of those coming at the offensive end.

Adelaide coach CJ Bruton was happy with the team's fightback but ultimately it took a great deal of energy just to get back into the game.

"It didn’t go as planned for sure, but I thought we came out with a little bit of ticker and the game started to get away from us for a minute there," Bruton said.

"We needed to respond and I thought they responded in the right way and I think tonight the Hawks were just better than us down the stretch."

It was a dominant start from the Hawks as they held the 36ers scoreless for more than two minutes to go up 6-0 with a three-point play from Sam Froling and three-point bomb from Tyler Harvey.

Eventually Adelaide scored courtesy of Cam Bairstow and then Sunday Dech drained a couple of threes as did Todd Withers, but the Hawks hit the last six points of the quarter to go into the quarter-time break leading 26-20 after a quick flurry from Isaac White.

While Bairstow scored first for Adelaide to open the second period it was then all Illawarra starting with Tim Coenraad fouled shooting a three. 

Justinian Jessup then took the game over knocking down an open three, finishing in transition after a steal, hitting a pair of free-throws, knocking down another triple and scoring again. 

He had 12 points in the matter of three minutes and the Hawks led by 17 as a result, and still by 13 by half-time after Dusty Hannahs, Withers and Daniel Johnson tried to will Adelaide back into it.

It was all Adelaide in the opening five minutes of the second half. The 36ers got rolling with three-pointers to Dech and Johnson, and when Dech connected again it was a five-point ball game.

Adelaide's charge continued with a Kai Sotto and-one play and then Johnson connected again from beyond the arc to tie scores up. Illawarra, though, managed the last five points through Xavier Rathan-Mayes to cling to a 62-57 advantage at three quarter-time.

Mitch McCarron brought the Sixers within three points again to start the fourth quarter, but that would be as close as they got. A couple of threes from White for Illawarra, then a run seven points from Harvey locked the game away.

Dech hit another three to give Adelaide a bit of life with three minutes to go, but the Hawks finished the game scoring 10 of the last 14 points to win by 16.

Both teams play again as part of Round 13 in the NBL with the 36ers returning home to play host to the Sydney Kings on Sunday. The Hawks have until Tuesday when they play the New Zealand Breakers in Hobart.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 13

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 87 (Reath 18, Jessup 17, White 14)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 71 (Dech 18, Withers 13, Johnson 13) 

BOX SCORE