After climbing to fourth spot a month ago, Wollongong (6-9) have slumped to eighth with four straight losses and face the daunting prospect of four consecutive road games.

If last night's inept performance wasn't bad enough, the Hawks have to somehow pick themselves up for Saturday's return meeting with the Brian Goorjian-coached Dragons in Melbourne.

Wollongong were without injured forward Anthony Petrie, while captain Mat Campbell (virus) and centre Cam Tragardh (back injury) were not at their physical peak.

But the Dragons were missing import Cortez Groves and played at a level far above their opponents all night.

Dragons forwards Joe Ingles (23 points, six rebounds, six assists, six steals) and Mark Worthington (20 points) were outstanding, while Tragardh (21) and Dusty Rychart (16) led the home side's scoring.

The Dragons hit almost 60 per cent of their shots compared to 43 per cent for Wollongong.

The writing was on the wall early for the Hawks, with the visitors casually opening up a 10-0 lead inside the first five minutes.

Ingles was cooking, scoring his team's first eight points and setting up Adam Gibson (12 points, five steals, seven rebounds) for a lay-up.

Wollongong coach Eric Cooks had no choice but to burn a time-out amid increasing crowd anxiety.

The Hawks finally got on the board with Rychart's short jump-shot and it was 10-5 when he followed up with a three-pointer.

While the Dragons were well in control, Goorjian was anything but happy and called his first time-out with just over four minutes left in the quarter.

The visitors continued to hold sway and took a 21-13 lead into the second period.

Both teams started finding the basket more often, but the Dragons' rugged defence ensured they maintained a healthy buffer and Cooks was compelled to use his second time-out when the lead swelled to 40-27 with five minutes left in the half.