In front of a sellout WEC crowd the Hawks looked the goods in the first half, leading by seven at the break only to be overrun in the third quarter to trail by four heading into the final term and were unable to reel the Cats in with the scoreline identical to their game one loss.

Quiet in game one and under an injury cloud coming into game two, AJ Ogilvy was a colossus for the Hawks turning in a stat-sheet of 21 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, four blocks and two steals but it wasn’t enough for the hosts.

Rotnei Clarke also had 21 points but he was the only other Hawk in double-figures with the defending champs going to another level in the second half as the hosts rebounding woes re-emerged, out-done on the glass 16-6 in the all-important third quarter.

Bryce Cotton finished with 20 points for the visitors while Casey Prather had 18 and Angus Brandt had 15 points and 11 boards largely in the absence of Matt Knight who was helped from the court with concussion in the third quarter. Finals veteran Damian Martin was also huge down the stretch finishing with 12 points at 4-5 from long range.

It was the Wildcats first grand final road win since 2000 and sets the Hawks a monumental task to keep the series alive at The Jungle in four days time.

Nick Kay got off to a flyer for the Hawks dropping the hosts first six points but Cotton made a quick response with five including his first triple. Ogilvy came to life with an and-one play that was part of a 7-0 run for the Hawks with Clarke’s first three seing the lead swell to 11. Brandt pegged it back for the visitors with seven for the quarter but the term belonged to Ogilvy who had seven points six rebounds, two assists and two blocks in a mighty first stint to take a 24-18 lead into the first change.

The Cats had two quick buckets to start the second to peg the margin back to two as Prather and Clarke traded threes. Ogilvy added six more as the lead went back out to six but Knight, quiet to that point, chimed in with four of his own to keep the Cats in touch. 

Clarke had the final say of the half with six points, including a monster three, and a seemingly impossible behind the back dish for Martin to finish and take a seven-point lead into the main the break.

Cotton got going after the resumption with four points before four unanswered points from Jameel Mckay and a put-back from Jarrod Kenny put a stamp on a 6-0 run to get the Cats back within two. Cotton re-took the lead for the first time since the opening minutes from the line 58-57 and Martin had his first three to fully take back momentum for the Cats who led 63-59 at the final change.

Ogilvy had a deep two and Clarke put away his shot from the line after Redhage was called for flopping before an and one from Prather and a dagger three from Martin saw the lead balloon to nine.

A clutch three from Mitch Norton kept the Hawks in touch but Martin responded with a three of his own and twisted the knife with another. Forman and Clarke had threes to get within six but it was as close as they got with the Cats closing the show from the foul line.