The Illawarra Hawks kept themselves in touching distance of the top-four with a dominant 109-78 victory over the New Zealand Breakers on Sunday.
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Two days after being beaten by 15-points across the ditch, the Hawks churned out a sensational team triumph at WIN Entertainment Centre despite losing star import Marvelle Harris in the first quarter.
The talented American went down with an ankle injury at the 4:20 mark and didn’t return, but is expected to play in next week’s match.
His absence didn’t slow the hosts, who found their offensive rhythm early on and didn’t let up. Hawks coach Rob Beveridge had shuffled the deck to start the match with Cody Ellis and Kevin White brought into the starting line up in place of Rotnei Clarke and Nick Kay.
The move inspired Clarke to score a game-high 22 points (10/17) in what was his best performance of the season.
“Part of the intention was to get [Rotnei] to relax a little bit," Beveridge said.
"It's not only him but everybody to relax and enjoy the game and have some fun.
"It is not fun losing. It really isn't. It is a real grind when you continue to lose and are not playing to what you know you can do. I am hoping that maybe this could be a little bit of a turning point for us this season."
Six Hawks finished in double-digits.
Big-man AJ Ogilvy filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four blocks while Kay (17 points), Rhys Martin (15 points), Mitch Norton (12 points) and Tim Coenraad (10 points) all chipped in.
Alex Pledger finished with a double-double for the visitors, scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 boards.
New Zealand had the early ascendancy, but when Harris stole the ball and drove to the basket to finish, the Hawks led 9-7. They were never headed from there.
The Breakers struggled to take care of the ball in a sloppy first quarter and had seven turnovers by the end of the period where the Hawks led 26-20. Good defence and some hot shooting from Clarke, who had 11 points in the second term, allowed Illawarra to expand their advantage. They were 56-44 up at the main change and came out with a similar aggressive intent in the third.
Some valuable points off the bench from Coenraad kept the scoreboard ticking before a Rhys Martin treble gave them their biggest lead of the night at 21 points with less than a minute remaining in the quarter. A 83-64 Hawks lead at the final break meant it was party time in the fourth. They’d run out massive 31 point victors.
Beveridge said good defence helped pave the way for the win.
"When we play really, really good defence that is disruptive and get into it, it just flows,” he said.
“Then we don't have to get organised and make it a half court grind which probably isn't our greatest strength. It is really amazing. We can have so many contributors.”
The win takes Illawarra to 5-6 and leaves them one win behind top-four clubs New Zealand (6-5), Brisbane and Perth (both 6-4).