After trailing at the main break, the hosts put on a second half blitz which saw them outscore Adelaide 77-32 to secure a massive 34-point triumph at WIN Entertainment Centre.

The 122-point haul is the most by any team in NBL history since games were reduced to 40-minutes.

Imports Rotnei Clarke and Marvelle Harris led the way in what was a superb team performance to open the season.

Clarke had 23 points and six assists while Harris gave a glimpse of his all-round game with 21 points, seven assists, three rebounds and three steals.

Michael Holyfield (14 points), Oscar Forman (11 points), Nick Kay (11 points) and Tim Coenraad (10 points) all had double digits as the Hawks hit a sensational 40/79 (52%) from the field.

Adelaide skipper Mitch Creek finished with 24 points, but got in foul trouble as Illawarra stole momentum after the break.

Jerome Randle had 13 points at half before being held scoreless in the second stanza.

Hawks coach Rob Beveridge was keeping a lid on things after the win.

“There is no way we are going to get ahead of ourselves,” he said.

“We showed a big weakness in the second quarter. We showed our players how poor we were at containing. We have to get better than that.

“It was our night in the second half but we showed a lot of breakdowns and mistakes there so there is no way we are going to get ahead of ourselves.

“It is wonderful to get that first win.”

Early on it looked as if the match would be an arm-wrestle.

Harris introduced himself to the home fans when he bullied his way inside for an early three point play which opened the scoring.

He pushed the Hawks out to a 15-2 early lead with a sensational coast-to-coast effort that finished with a pretty lay-up.

Adelaide looked shell shocked in the early exchanges and had breached the foul limit for the quarter less than five minutes into the contest.

They were given some respite when Illawarra brought on fresh legs midway through the quarter and stayed in contact thanks to some nice work from star guard Jerome Randle, who had 11 for the period.

It was 31-22 at the first break.

Adelaide made a run to start the second and got within four points through some outstanding offence from Creek.

The 36ers skipper had 11 straight points, including two three point plays, to keep the visitors in the hunt.

Clarke kept the scoreboard ticking at the opposite end and had the Hawks in front 50-45 as hit a driving lay-up halfway through the quarter.

But when Creek continued his hot streak, Adelaide found the front.

He drained a three to take his total to 19 points for the second term and give the 36ers a 55-52 buffer inside the final two minutes.

The margin was one at the half, but the Hawks’ best was yet to come.

They put on a clinic in the third quarter to set-up a winning break

Sharpshooting wizard Oscar Forman did the damage early in the quarter with three straight from long range to help Illawarra to a 75-64 advantage.

Before they knew it, the lead was double that margin as Harris, Mitch Norton and AJ Ogilvy all chipped in with baskets.

Adelaide were restricted to just two points in the final six minutes of the quarter and went into the final break 89-66 behind.

Illawarra didn’t take the foot off the gas in the fourth.

Another Clarke three had the lead at 30 points and the 100-point mark up for the first time this season.

The loudest cheer of the match came when Illawarra junior and current development player Angus Glover hit his first shot from the field in a Hawks uniform.

Holyfield put away some showstopping dunks late in the piece to seal a remarkable win.

Adelaide coach Joey Wright felt his side’s lacklustre defensive display cost them any chance of victory.

“We only relied on offense to keep us in the first half to keep us in the first half and when that dried up our defence was still not available,” he said.

“It’s a bad cocktail to just rely on your offense.

“They overall have a better offensive team than we do so you don’t want to get in a shooting match with a team like that.”