A clinical Melbourne Tigers extended their NBL winning streak to eight, romping to a 113-104 victory over the Wollongong Hawks last night at WIN Entertainment Centre.
Inconsistent and indifferent for most of the season, the defending champions are clearly back on song. They are playing far above any of their rivals and proved they are still the NBL's benchmark in excellence.
Wollongong's loss was their fifth straight and left them stuck in ninth spot with three games left.
The Hawks went into the game with a slight mathematical chance of pinching a top six spot.
But those hopes have been buried for good and they are now playing for pride in what will most likely be the club's final season.
At least the Hawks went down fighting, courageously cutting into a 17-point fourth quarter deficit to trail by just three with 1:37 to play. Melbourne looked set to coast to an easy win before Wollongong guard Kavossy Franklin dragged his side back from the dead, hitting several clutch shots down the stretch.
But the Tigers did enough to hang on, ending the Hawks' play-off dreams. Franklin led the home side with 28 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals, while Anthony Petrie added 18 points and nine rebounds.
It's not often a team shooting 55 per cent will lose, but that's what happened to the Hawks.
Leading the Tigers were Ebi Ere and Dave Barlow with 23 apiece, while Chris Anstey finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Both teams made their intentions clear from the get-go with an emphasis on speed and quick shooting.
Hawks forward Glen Saville scored his team's first seven points, but the Tigers were smoking at the other end and held a 22-13 lead when Hawks coach Eric Cooks called his first timeout with 5:44 left in the opening quarter.
When little-used Hawks forward Dan Jackson was injected into the game late in the period, Cooks had used nine players.
His Melbourne counterpart Al Westover went one further, using all 10 of his players before the end of the quarter. Despite hitting a sizzling 60 per cent of their shots, the Hawks trailed 37-28 after a run-and-gun first period.
After trimming the deficit to six early in the second quarter, the Hawks were suddenly down by 13 after another Tigers surge.
The visitors were bemused by an unsportsmanlike foul on Anstey midway through the period, but they continued to hold sway and generally did as they pleased against Wollongong's leaky defence.
Every time the Hawks reduced the margin to single figures, Melbourne would respond with another mini-run to keep their opponents at bay.
Barlow was having his way, scoring 16 points to help his side to a comfortable 69-58 half-time lead.
Every Tigers player was on the scoresheet, with Ere just behind Barlow on 14.
Saville had 12 for the Hawks, while back-up forward Petrie was the standout with 13 off the bench.
Wollongong connected on 62 per cent of their shots for the half, but turned over possession 10 times.
The Tigers hit 55 per cent and had four turnovers by comparison.
Wollongong showed signs of life with a Franklin-inspired fightback in the third quarter.
Westover burned a timeout when his team's lead was clipped to 79-73 with 4:30 on the clock.
But Melbourne steadied again to be up 89-80 after three quarters and started the final period with a decisive 8-0 run.
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