A horror schedule of three games in four days should keep the Wollongong Hawks from dwelling on Saturday night's 87-80 road loss to the Perth Wildcats.
The Hawks (5-2) went down fighting in the top-of-the-table showdown and retained a share of first place despite having their four-match winning streak snapped.
They cut into an 11-point deficit late in the third quarter, trimming the margin to five with a minute to play in the final quarter.
Full coverage of the Wollongong Hawks But the visitors missed a couple of three-point attempts in the closing seconds, allowing Perth to avenge a 94-92 loss to the Hawks in round one at Wollongong.
A perfect 5-0 on their home court in 2009-10, the Hawks have lost both of their away games.
They only have a few days to prepare for Wednesday night's home meeting with the Melbourne Tigers before returning to the road for a Friday night clash with Cairns and a Saturday night tussle with Townsville.
Payback will be high on the agenda for the Taipans and Crocs after both teams suffered recent losses on the Hawks' home court. The Hawks competed from start to finish against the Wildcats and should not be too down on themselves.
More to the point, they have a short turnaround before squaring off with the Tigers and their busy schedule this week means they simply don't have time to stay disappointed.
Wollongong started strongly against the Cats, jumping to an early 9-4 lead. The home side responded and had their noses in front 26-23 at the end of the first quarter.
The Hawks surged again, regaining the momentum to build a 38-32 lead with four minutes to play in the half before Perth counter-punched with a 14-4 run to be up 46-42 at the main break.
Wollongong were in trouble when the margin swelled to 11 midway through the third period, but they hung tough to prune Perth's lead to 63-59 with just over two minutes remaining.
Wildcats guard Kevin Lisch hit a back-breaking three-pointer to spark another run and the Hawks were trailing 71-62 after three quarters.
The Hawks refused to wilt in crunch time, chipping away at a 10-point deficit to trail 85-80 with 1:46 on the clock.
Wollongong forward Glen Saville could have made it a two-point game but missed his three-point attempt with 44 seconds to play. Cats playmaker Damien Martin's basket with 13 seconds left put the result beyond doubt.
The Hawks and Wildcats are leading the NBL with identical win-loss records, although the Hawks are slightly ahead on a superior for and against ratio.
Both teams will be looking forward to their third clash of the season on December 12 at Wollongong.
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