High Octane Hawks Hold Out Phoenix in the 'Gong

The Illawarra Hawks were virtually unstoppable most of the night and then had to hold off a furious South East Melbourne Phoenix fightback late for a critical 103-97 Thursday night win at WIN Entertainment Centre.

Both teams are locked in a battle over fourth position right now and needing to bounce back from disappointing losses on Sunday, and it was quite the offensive feast most of the night from each of them in the 'Gong.

The Hawks were getting as they pleased for a lot of the night including 18 first-half points from Duop Reath on perfect shooting from the field. Tyler Harvey was feeling it too on his way to 22 points, and the Hawks' lead had grown to 19 midway through the fourth term.

Mitch Creek had just seven points for the night up until that point, but he then fired a spirited Phoenix comeback that saw them close all the way back to three with 45 seconds left after a Kyle Adnam putback following another Zhou Qi offensive rebound.

Xavier Rathan-Mayes showed nerves of steel, though, to run down the shot clock and hit the open three with 20 seconds to go to steady the Hawks to the six-point lead and ultimate six-point win.

It was a huge win in the context of the season for the Hawks too as they return to fourth position at 12-8 and take the place of a Phoenix team who are now 11-8.

The Hawks shot the ball at 53 per cent for the night to go with 17 offensive boards for 23 second chance points. Reath delivered a terrific performance with 22 points on 9/11 to go with 12 rebounds, five of which were offensive.

Then as well as Harvey's 22 points, Rathan-Mayes finished with 15 (five rebounds), Sam Froling 14 (eight points, three assists) and Antonius Cleveland 16 (four assists, three boards, two steals).

Zhou Qi likely delivered his best performance in the NBL for the Phoenix with 25 points and eight rebounds. 

Mitch Creek finished with 15 points for South East Melbourne, Xavier Munford 13 and Izayah Le'afa 12 while Brandon Ashley had 11 points and four rebounds in under minutes before fouling out.

Tyler Harvey started the game knocking down a three ball for the Hawks and then Sam Froling rolled to the ring to throw it down. Justinian Jessup connected from downtown as well for the early 8-2 lead for Illawarra.

It was Zhou Qi keeping the Phoenix in touch with his team's first seven points but still the Hawks pulled away again with six straight points to lead 16-7 before a Tim Coenraad triple and Froling bucket for the 21-10 edge.

Some good hustle from Brandon Ashley and three from Xavier Munford kept South East Melbourne somewhat in touch but a putback but from Duop Reath on the buzzer had the Hawks on top 30-20 by quarter-time.

Reath was proving unstoppable both in the mid-range and outside. He scored Illawarra's first five points of the second quarter to push the lead out to 11 even though Mitch Creek got his first four points without Antonius Cleveland out there guarding him.

Those would be Creek's only points of the half on 2/10 shooting and then Cleveland returned to not only lock him down, but also score four quick points himself.

The Hawks were still up double-digits before Reuben Te Rangi sparked South East Melbourne. Ashley was battling hard too and they combined for an 8-0 run before Illawarra pulled away again when Tim Coenraad converted the four-point play.

Te Rangi and Kyle Adnam hit threes just before half-time but on the back of Reath's 18 points on 7/7 shooting and the team going 55 per cent from the field, the Hawks were up 53-48 at the break.

While Te Rangi scored first in the second half to make it a three-point game, the Hawks soon blew it wide open. It started with a run of five points from Harvey and then he continued to be aggressive and scored twice more inside heading three quarter-time.

Xavier Rathan-Mayes then scored the last six points of an 8-0 run and suddenly Illawarra was up 84-66 heading into the fourth.

The lead grew to 19 midway through the fourth too but the Phoenix threw everything at a comeback. Finally Creek got going hitting seven quick points, Izayah Le'afa nailed a couple of threes and it was back to a 10-point margin with four minutes on the clock.

South East Melbourne kept coming too with another Creek bucket before he got in the paint and delivered the alley-oop pass for a throwdown from Qi. The Chinese big man then tipped an offensive rebound to Adnam for a layup and to bring the margin to three.

The pressure was on the Hawks to respond and it was Rathan-Mayes who delivered the killer blow from three for the Hawks to reward their home fans with the win.

Both teams back up with huge games on Saturday as part of Round 16 as well with the Hawks taking on the Tasmania JackJumpers in Launceston while the Phoenix host the Sydney Kings at John Cain Arena.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 16

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 103 (Reath 22, Harvey 22, Cleveland 16)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 97 (Zhou Qi 23, Creek 17, Munford 13) 

BOX SCORE