Thrashed by 29 points in game two in Townsville, the real Hawks stood up in the best-of-three series decider to earn a grand final showdown with the Perth Wildcats.

The Wildcats will host the opening clash of the best-of-three championship series, with game two to be held at Wollongong on March 9. Game three, if required, is scheduled for Perth on March 12.

The Hawks will be making their third trip to the grand final series in nine years and chasing the club's second title in 32 seasons.

``With everything the fans and sponsors have done, it's great to give them another game,'' Wollongong coach Gordie McLeod said.

``There's a lot of pride and history in the club, so it's a great position to be in.''

The Hawks split four regular season meetings with the Wildcats, with both teams winning twice on their respective home courts.

``We're going into another three-game series and someone has to win two games,'' McLeod said.

``Perth is a very good team and that's why they're where they're at. They have a whole lot of depth.

``What we have to do is come up with a way we want to play them. We've played them four times, so the players have a feel for the different match-ups. We've got a feel for each other's systems and now it's about which team can go out and disrupt the other team's system.''

Spurred on by almost 4500 fans, the Hawks rose to the occasion against the Crocodiles, connecting on a sizzling 63 per cent of their shots for the game.

Cam Tragardh (14 points, six rebounds) hit all six of his shots, while his understudy Dave Gruber was equally efficient, racking up 15 points (5/5 field goals, 5/5 free throws), five rebounds and one block in 21 show-stealing minutes.

Also starring for the home side were Rhys Martin (16 points, five assists), Mat Campbell (14 points, four assists) and Glen Saville (12 points, eight rebounds, three steals).