Wollongong fans cried tears of joy after the Hawks triumphed over Townsville 88-76 in Saturday night's semi-final at WIN Entertainment Centre.
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 in Wollongong on March 9. Game three, if required, is scheduled for Perth three days later.
Full coverage of the Wollongong Hawks The Hawks will be making their third trip to a grand final series in nine years and are 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).
American guard Corey Williams (27 points, seven rebounds, five assists) did his best to carry the Crocs, while back-up guard Mick Cedar finished with 14 points.
The Hawks came out firing, building a 29-17 quarter-time lead and heading to the half-time break with an eight-point lead. The margin was 11 after three periods and it never dropped any lower than eight in the final quarter.
Wollongong players celebrated with the crowd after the game and emotions got the better of some misty-eyed fans.
Considering the Hawks were hours away from folding this time last year, the rapid turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable.
"We should not be playing right now when you look at where we were 12 months ago, and now we're in a grand final series," Campbell said.
"We've got nothing to lose. We were picked to be last, we don't have home-court advantage in the next series, so every game will be like our last game.
"They've got a good crowd over there and they'll be pumped, but we're only two games away from winning the championship.
"If you can't get focused and get up for a grand final there's something wrong."
Crocs coach Trevor Gleeson graciously tipped his hat to the Hawks.
"I just want to wish the Hawks all the best," he said.
"It's absolutely fantastic what this organisation and what this town has done, and what the Hawks have done to be on the brink of a title. I really wish them well and I hope they get across the line.
"I'll certainly be barracking for them."
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