Kevin Lisch backed up his career-high 30 points against Cairns last-start with 23 points and four assists while Kirk Penney - who came into the match under an injury cloud - had 21 at a sharp 66 per cent from the field in just 18 minutes on court.

AJ Ogilvy continued his run of consistency in Wollongong with 17 points while Tim Coenraad (11) and Cody Ellis made handy contributions from the bench.

It was the third time the Hawks have broken the 100-point mark in their last four games at home and solidified their position in the top four.

“I thought it was actually a real grind but you look up and we scored 102 points,” coach Rob Beveridge said.

“They came out on fire. They shot the lights out of it it they were at 60 per cent or whatever it was.

“That wasn’t good enough for us and we had a fair crack at them at halftime.

“We gave up 31 and then went 20, 17 and 15 and they were playing quite loose and letting it go.

“I was pretty proud of the way we were so determined and we got it done.”

The loss was soured further for the Kings with star centre Julian Khazzouh injuring his knee in the second quarter and taking no further part in the clash.

Initial reports suggested he had torn his quadriceps tendon in what could spell an extended lay-off.

With star import Josh Childress already looking on from the sidelines with just three games to his name this season new coach Joe Connelly can ill-afford to lose Khazzouh for an extended period.

Tom Garlepp, Rhys Carter and Marcus Thornton all had 15 for the visitors in an otherwise disastrous night against their arch-rivals.

“Our worst defence was bad shots,” Connelly said.

“We never really settled the ball down in the half court and that saw guys take some shots out of rhythm.

“The one thing [the Hawks] do that I love, is they scrap. Every loose ball they’re fighting, they’re shooting elbows at us, they’re grabbing out shirt, they’re doing all the stuff I hope we get to at one point.

“We had guys who had the ball in their hands and they came an took it from us. That’s unacceptable.

“I thought we showed some positive signs of building that in Melbourne but truthfully we took a step backwards tonight.

“They brought the fight to us and we didn’t respond well. That’s the most disappointing thing I’ll take out of tonight apart from Julian getting injured.”

The Hawks have made a habit of starting well on their home floor but were uncharacteristically slow out of the blocks with the Kings dropping nine straight points before Penney got the home side started from the free-throw line.

Five quick points to Lisch helped cut the lead back to two at 11-9 before Marcus Thornton came to life with eight points, six from beyond the arc to open up an 11-point lead at 22-11.

Tim Coenraad's injection from the bench proved a momentum shifter with his pair of threes and another from Rhys Martin cutting the lead to 31-29 at the first break.

Oscar Forman gave the Hawks their first lead of the match with a triple to start the second term in a quarter that saw five lead changes.

Nine points from Penney helped push the lead out to eight at 49-41 but the Kings fought back with Khazzouh adding four points before he was helped from the court.

Five points to Garlepp and four to Carter got the visitors within one at 51-49 midway through the quarter before the Hawks kicked away again finishing the quarter with an 8-2 run to take 58-51 into the main break.

Three straight triples from Penney gave his side a 13-point buffer early in the third term and while Lisch added four as the gap blew out to 18 points at 83-65.

Carter had six while Garlepp added five to keep the visitors in touch but the Hawks took a handy 83-68 lead into the final term.

Ogilvy had seven points early in the fourth as the Hawks cruised past the 100-point mark.