IT was a case of so near and yet so far for the Wollongong Hawks in Saturday night’s road duel with the Cairns Taipans.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Hawks went agonisingly close to ending their losing streak, only to go down 69-65 after holding a one-point lead late in the game.
Cairns’ victory was their first in four games, while last-placed Wollongong have now lost 10 in a row.
The Hawks (1-10) have to quickly dust themselves off and prepare for Sunday night’s road meeting with Townsville.
Down by nine at half-time on Saturday, the visitors had trimmed a point off the deficit by the end of the third period and maintained their surge in the final quarter.
But Taipans star Scottie Wilbekin’s twisting lay-up broke a 65-all deadlock with 28 seconds to play.
Hawks captain Oscar Forman missed a three-point shot and Cairns guard Cam Gliddon’s pair of free throws with five seconds left sealed the win.
‘‘It was tense but it always is against the Hawks so we were expecting that,’’ Gliddon said.
‘‘We didn’t stick four quarters together today. We just got a bit lucky.’’
Gliddon chalked up 17 points, five rebounds and three assists, ex-Hawk Cam Tragardh added 16 points and five rebounds off the bench, while Alex Loughton finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Wollongong guard Jahii Carson scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half and Tim Coenraad had 14 points and six rebounds.
Centre Luke Nevill had his best outing since the opening game of the season with eight points and 15 rebounds off the bench, while Rhys Martin finished with 10 points and three steals.
Hawks coach Gordie McLeod reshuffled his starting five, moving Martin to the bench and re-uniting Gary Ervin and Carson in the backcourt.
Coenraad paced the Hawks early with eight quick points, while the 218cm Nevill made his presence felt with six rebounds in the first quarter.
Wollongong held a 10-6 lead before the Taipans hit back and forged ahead 16-14 to end a hard-fought opening period.
Tragardh got the Taipans on the front foot with consecutive baskets to start the second quarter.
Both teams were plagued by wayward shooting, but Cairns extended the margin to 10 points with four minutes remaining in the half.
The Hawks’ offensive issues weren’t helped by their inability to get to the free throw line. Their first foul shot came when Martin was sent to the line late in the first half.
Tragardh stayed hot, boosting his tally to 14 as the Taipans headed to the locker room with a 38-29 lead.
Coenraad led the Hawks with 10, Martin had six, while Neville pulled down nine of his team’s 20 rebounds.
Wollongong made just 34 per cent of their shots, though Cairns weren’t much better at 37 per cent.
The third quarter largely mirrored the preceding periods, as defence continued to over-power offence.
Carson found his groove, scoring 11 points in the quarter, but Gliddon and Loughton each nailed a three to put the home team up 56-48 with a period to play.
The Hawks closed the gap to four points after lay-ups by Carson and Ervin.
They continued to chip away, as Forman finally hit a three and backed up with a lay-up to make it a one-point game.
When Martin knocked in two free throws with four minutes to play, Wollongong had their first lead since the opening quarter.
But the Taipans scraped home with clutch plays in the closing seconds.
The Hawks can forget about the playoffs if they don’t beat Townsville.