The Wollongong Hawks' quest for NBL supremacy is back on track after Thursday night's confidence-restoring away win over the New Zealand Breakers.
Two straight losses to Adelaide prompted plenty of basketball followers to suggest the Hawks' bubble had burst.
But Wollongong defied the odds against the Breakers, trailing for almost the entire game - they were down by 11 at different stages - before guard Tywain McKee drove inside for a lay-up with 14 seconds left to snatch a 93-91 victory.
Full coverage of the Wollongong Hawks The Hawks (8-5) regained the outright lead at the top of the ladder and will have a spring in their step at training in the countdown to next Saturday's home meeting with Perth.
"The amount of times we had to come back, it showed a lot of courage and ticker and it certainly adds confidence when you win a close game on the road, especially against the title favourites," Hawks captain Mat Campbell said.
"We'd had two losses in a row so we were under a bit of pressure. There was also the prospect of us dropping out of the top four ... so it was a great result for us.
"It was a game I never really thought was out of reach, and to come back and win it was an awesome feeling.
"We've now got nine days until our next game and we can go into the week feeling confident and work on a good plan to get over the top of Perth."
Aside from poor free-throw shooting (2/5), Campbell provided key contributions in the win over the Breakers, finishing with 11 points and five rebounds.
McKee was the standout with 29 points (4/8 three-pointers), nine assists and five rebounds, while fellow import Dave Gruber had his best game in a Hawks uniform.
With starting forward Cam Tragardh enduring an off night (two points, 1/9 shooting), Gruber played 24 minutes and racked up 16 points, most of which he scored when the pressure was on in the fourth quarter.
Wollongong couldn't get into an offensive rhythm in the first half, hitting just 5/12 free throws and turning over possession 10 times. But they were much better over the final two periods, making 11/14 foul shots and just four errors.
"One of the most pleasing things was our execution and poise down the stretch," Campbell said.
"We played with a lot of control and ran the plays we wanted to run, and it's probably the first time this season we've executed well on the road down the stretch, and that had a lot to do with our fitness. Our bench was a huge factor. Those guys came on and really sparked us and showed how deep we are.
"We've got the depth and we knew it would take a team effort to play at a certain level for a long time and try to wear them down. The plan pretty much worked to perfection, because if you saw their legs in the last five minutes, we were fitter.
"The second half was our style of basketball. It was the style we were playing earlier in the year and hopefully the win over the Breakers was what we needed to get us back to playing that style."
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