United spoil Hawks homecoming to go 6-0

This Melbourne United team is going to take some beating. Missing three key pieces, they put on a first half offensive show, turned up the defence in the second and spoiled the Illawarra Hawks homecoming, winning 91-88.

The game to open Round 5 of the NBL at WIN Entertainment Centre pitted the top two teams up against one another, and both the Hawks and United showed everyone why they have been the standouts to date and had a combined 9-1 record coming into Wednesday night.

What a show it was in the first half too. The two teams were on fire combining for a season-best 67 first quarter points with Melbourne up 36-31 while shooting at 7/11 from downtown.

Both kept going to combine for a season-high 112 first half points too with United up 57-55 at the break while hitting 10/19 from deep with the Hawks matching that with 9/18 and Justinian Jessup top-scoring with 17.

That sort of shooting was not going to last and both teams turned up the defensive heat in the second half, but that created for just as fascinating a contest.

The game still came down to the wire and just days after a game clinching offensive rebound against the Perth Wildcats, Jack White again delivered when it mattered most for Melbourne with his team's last two baskets, his only scores of the game, plus another crucial board to secure the three-point win.

That keeps United undefeated after six games without any of those being in Melbourne and on Wednesday night in the 'Gong they were missing Chris Goulding, Jo-Lual Acuil and Shea Ili – who had combined for 36.1 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists a game.

But Scotty Hopson produced his best game of the season with Melbourne for 21 points, nine rebounds and three assists. He got plenty of help too with Mitch McCarron breaking out offensively for 17 points and seven assists. Both went 3/5 from three-point land too.

Yudai Baba was the star though. He played some tight defence on Tyler Harvey while in the open floor his lightning quick pace was unstoppable. The Japanese sensation had 13 points while Jock Landale added 10 points, Dave Barlow nine and Mason Peatling nine.

United coach Dean Vickerman overall was proud of the grit his team fought to keep winning.

"In the first half both teams were scoring freely and going into the game I was wondering if we'd make enough threes tonight, and I look at the stat sheet and we had 10 made threes at the half," Vickerman said.

"The ball was moving really well, we were just disappointed with the way we were rebounding. That was a bit of a constant throughout the night and I thought we made a big of a chance through the middle of the third quarter and committed to that. 

"That limited their second chance points but they have two amazing scorers with Harvey and Jessup who are really tough. We made some big defensive plays down the stretch and without the players we were missing, it was great to see others step up."

It might have been a second straight loss after a 4-0 start for the Hawks as they played their first home game on the back of being called Illawarra once again, but there was still plenty to like.

Next Star Justinian Jessup was unstoppable with 24 points on 8/15 shooting with Harvey still putting up 22 points, 10 rebounds and four assists despite the attention he received.

Sam Froling was dangerous inside as well for 16 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks in a fascinating battle with Landale.

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian was proud of the organisation he's part of despite the final result.

"When you look at the crowd, you look at the playing group and what went on tonight from the first time we walked in the door here five or six months ago, now having the name back and the crowd like that, there was so much energy in the building," Goorjian said.

"I'm certainly not hanging my head nor is my team about their performance. There's certainly disappointment, but we're playing the best team in the league and we had a good chance tonight. We needed to get certain things done to do that and we're just not quite there yet."

The shooting spectacle began early in the 'Gong with a Melbourne triple to Scotty Hopson and then a couple to Jock Landale for a 13-6 opening. Dave Barlow then hit two of his own quickly, but Tyler Harvey was starting to warm up for Illawarra and then Justinian Jessup hit his second of the opening term.

It was injury replacement Dillon Stith who then sparked United with five quick points before Mitch McCarron put them up 36-31 with both teams shooting 56 per cent from the field while Melbourne hit 7/11 from downtown.

Things stayed hot in the second quarter starting off with Hawks captain AJ Ogilvy hitting a corner three. McCarron hit a couple more for United, then so did Harvey for the Hawks before Jessup put on quite the show.

He had a foot on the line twice yet still hit four massive jumpers to close the half but still it was Melbourne leading 57-55 with Hopson delivering 14 first half points and McCarron 13. Jessup had 17 for the Hawks while their offensive rebounds kept them close.

Harvey broke free for consecutive threes midway through the third quarter to put Illawarra up seven, but just as the home team looked set to breakaway, Melbourne responded and even led 73-72 thanks to Yudai Baba just before three quarter-time.

It was Melbourne's turn to threaten a match-winning lead to start the fourth leading by six on a couple of occasions on the back of Baba being unstoppable in the open floor. 

But the Hawks did enough to stay close and the game went down to the wire, but Jack White's only two scores of the game ended up being enough to keep Melbourne unbeaten.

Melbourne heads back to Bendigo to host the Cairns Taipans on Saturday while the Hawks take on the Sydney Kings in Sydney on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 5

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 88 (Jessup 24, Harvey 22, Froling 16)

MELBOURNE UNITED 91 (Hopson 21, McCarron 17, Baba 15) 

BOX SCORE