The Illawarra Hawks kept their NBL title hopes alive with a tense 100-94 victory over Adelaide 36ers at WIN Entertainment Centre on Sunday afternoon.
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Facing elimination on their home floor, the Hawks dug deep to starve off a determined 36ers outfit to send the series to a game three in Adelaide on Thursday.
Bench weapon Tim Coenraad continued where he left off game one with 17 points and 10 rebounds while Mitch Norton finished with a season-high 17 points.
Rotnei Clarke (15 points), Nick Kay (12 points) and Rhys Martin (10 points) all contributed.
Adelaide star Jerome Randle was booed every time he had possession, but had a game-high 20 points with five turnovers.
Daniel Johnson had 17 points and fellow big-man Eric Jacobsen 12 points and six rebounds.
The Hawks burst out of the blocks, but had nothing to show for it when Adelaide went on a 9-0 run to level things at 11-all.
Kay got the hosts back on track with a pair of driving lays up as Illawarra went into the first change 28-22 up.
Tensions flared early in the second quarter when Randle and Hawks firebrand Kevin White went nose-to-nose after the latter scored on the newly-crowd NBL MVP in the low post.
It gave Illawarra a double digit advantage.
The Sixers struggled to contain the Hawks throughout the second period as Clarke, Oscar Forman and Marvelle Harris all coasted in for easy baskets.
Back-to-back threes from Anthony Drmic cut the margin to seven points midway through the quarter before a late flurry from Coenraad helped the Hawks to a 54-49 half time lead.
Coenraad led all scorers with 14 points and six rebounds.
The Sixers stayed within touching distance before Clarke drained a three to ease the pressure.
It only momentarily stunted Adelaide's momentum as they wrestled back the lead for the first time since the first quarter on the back of a Randle pull-up jumper.
A late Clarke basket at the buzzer put Illawarra 79-78 in front and set up a thrilling finale.
Both teams refused to give an inch as the lead continually changed hands in a nail-biting fourth quarter.
Two trips to the charity stripe for Norton allowed the Hawks to fight their way to a 99-93 advantage.
It proved to be a winning buffer as Illawarra held on for a vital win.