But while a semi-final berth is a long shot, the Hawks still have the slimmest of mathematical chances to finish in the top four.

‘‘What the magic number [of wins] will be - who knows? With the closeness and unpredictability of the league, you don’t know,’’ Wollongong coach Gordie McLeod said.

‘‘The culture we try and have at our club is to be the best team we can be. There’s no use looking down the track because if you’re not going in the right direction you’re in trouble, you’re going to get lost.’’

The Hawks ended a run of seven straight losses with last Friday’s 80-74 road victory over Cairns and lost on the buzzer the following night against Townsville.

They host Melbourne on Friday night and are seeking just their second home win of the season.

‘‘If anything, the weekend is an indication we can play with the top teams in the league and even get on top of them,’’ swingman Tim Coenraad said.

‘‘It’s disappointing that we couldn’t have a 2-0 weekend, but to hold Townsville to 65 points with all their shooters, it’s a pretty big deal for us and we can definitely take a lot of confidence from the weekend.

‘‘Our defensive performance was where we want it to be, especially the second half. If we’d made a few open shots and a few more free throws, we would’ve put ourselves in a different position. The game was there for us to be won.’’