Moller shoots Kings home in OT over Hawks

The Illawarra Hawks fought valiantly and even took their NSW rivals to overtime, but the Sydney Kings always seemed to have the answers and it was Craig Moller that landed the final blow for the 79-75 win on Saturday night.

It was a night where the Hawks were celebrating their remarkable 2001 NBL championship triumph with the majority of that team back in the house at WIN Entertainment Centre for the occasion.

Earning a third win of the season against their old rivals the Kings would have made it a perfect night too for Illawarra to celebrate, but the absence of Deng Adel, Cam Bairstow and Justinian Jessup coming into the contest was always going to make it a challenge.

Any time you are without three players with either an NBA past or future it will be a test and that's even more the case when you are up against a Kings team in their best patch of form of the season ironically despite themselves having lost Didi Louzada and DJ Vasiljevic for the rest of #NBL21.

But for the majority of the evening in the 'Gong with almost 4000 in attendance, it was the Kings who appeared on track for their fourth consecutive win. And they ended up getting there to further consolidate third spot on the NBL ladder, but they sure had to earn it.

When Jarell Martin hit a stunning three ball late in regulation when he took a step back showing his remarkable talent for a big man, the Kings still looked to have done enough leading 69-64.

But the Hawks just wouldn’t be denied and coming out of a Brian Goorjian timeout, Tyler Harvey knocked down an answering three but it was Justin Simon key to making that happen after collecting the offensive rebound.

He then found Harvey for the three-point shot. And then it was Simon who showed his brilliant defensive instincts and reflexes to put out his hand to intercept a Casper Ware pass at mid-court. Simon turned that into a fast break layup as he tied scores at 69-69.

Both teams had a shot at a game-winner in the last 30 seconds but Shaun Bruce missed a triple for the Kings and then a trademark Harvey floater didn’t fall for Illawarra and we went to overtime.

Sydney hit the opening five points of the extra period firstly from a flush to Martin and then Lochlan Hutchison finished impressively inside after he'd come on for a hobbled Ware.

Big men Froling and Jordan Hunter traded buckets but ultimately it was a Craig Moller three ball that sealed the deal for the Kings to give them a fourth straight win and to move them two wins clear on the table of the Hawks as a result.

Hunter had another standout game for Sydney as centre with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Martin was still limited to 21 minutes, but was tremendous with 11 points and four boards. Moller also had 12 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

Casper Ware, Shaun Bruce and Brad Newley might have combined to shoot just 10/37 from the floor and 3/20 from beyond the arc, but Ware still had 18 points and four assists, Bruce 13 rebounds and three assists, and Newley six points, four rebounds and two assists.

Kings coach Adam Forde was proud of the fighting performance from his group to come away with a hard fought win.

"We built ourselves a little healthy margin there but we always knew Illawarra was going to go on a run, they are very capable of doing that and the game was always going to be won on the defensive end," Forde said. 

"We got a bit sluggish with our execution and we got lucky a few times with Illawarra missing some bunnies, but the for the most part that showed some guts by the guys. 

"Everybody really stepped up and Shaun Bruce was another example where his shot wasn’t necessarily on tonight, but he gets 13 rebounds. Hutch comes off the bench and literally gets thrown in the deep end and steps up for us. 

"There was a lot to unpack and I'm happy with the guys getting that type of win in overtime in such a great environment. I'm very happy with the result from the lads."

Justin Simon did all he could to inspire the Hawks and his numbers of 16 points, seven rebounds, five steals, two blocks and two assists only partly tell the story of his overall impact.

Sam Froling had another impressive performance against the Kings with 22 points and 12 rebounds while Tyler Harvey finished with 18 points and seven rebounds despite shooting just 6/22 from the field.

Emmett Naar showed just how good he is at running a ball club too becoming the first player in NBL history with 12 assists and zero turnovers in a game.

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian was disappointed with the result ultimately but couldn’t fault the endeavour of his largely youthful group.

"Everybody is disappointed. Everybody dug pretty deep and came up short so the feeling is disappointing but you take a deep breath and as a coach, I'm proud of the group," Goorjian said.

"Obviously we are going through some change and issues, and this was an important game for us and we had a lot of guys who hadn’t been playing a lot but had been training hard since the start of the year. I thought they got an opportunity tonight and brought us back, and got us into the game. 

"Emmett was key in that when we are in a big hole at the start of the third quarter. We made some changes and the guys who came in, Deng Deng, Max Darling, Emmett Naar and those guys came in to turn it around and got us back in the game, and at least gave us a chance."

Both teams now have a handy break before their next game. The Kings take on the league-leading Melbourne United in Melbourne next Sunday while the Hawks head down to Launceston to take on the New Zealand Breakers next Monday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 15

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 75 (Froling 22, Harvey 18, Simon 16)

SYDNEY KINGS 79 (Ware 18, Hunter 16, Moller 12) 

BOX SCORE