Wollongong are on the road against Townsville on Friday night before returning for Sunday’s home clash with the Adelaide 36ers.

While the last-placed Hawks (6-20) have lost all three of their four meetings with the 36ers (15-11), they are 2-1 against the six-placed Crocodiles (10-16) and can still win the series.

After opening the season with a 92-83 home win over the Crocs, Wollongong suffered an embarrassing 107-75 thrashing in round seven at Townsville. Squaring off with the Crocs a week later in Wollongong, the Hawks triumphed 90-76.

The winner of Friday’s showdown will claim the four-game series.

‘‘The guys still want to show everybody that, even though we’re at the bottom of the ladder, we’re better than our record shows,’’ Hawks centre Luke Nevill said.

‘‘We’ve had a lot of games this season where it’s been a last possession situation and it could’ve gone either way. We haven’t been out of a lot games this year, which is disappointing for us that we weren’t able to close those out.

‘‘If we can close out as many as we can, it just gives the guys a bit of confidence going into next year, and it makes that team continuity a little better.’’

Improbable as it seems, Wollongong are one of the league’s hottest teams with three wins in their past four games, including two over Melbourne.

‘‘A few of the guys were happy that we upset Melbourne’s season, so you take a little bit away from being able to knock other teams out of the playoffs,’’ Nevill said.

Last Sunday the Hawks overcame the Kings 75-73 in Sydney, levelling the season series at two games apiece.

Townsville clobbered Melbourne 105-68, while Adelaide won their eighth straight game with an impressive road win over New Zealand.