ILLAWARRA are 2-0 and lead the NBL at the conclusion of round one, making a huge statement with a 92-76 victory over the Taipans in Cairns on Monday night.
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Coach Brian Goorjian was without marquee man Deng Adel (quad) while he lost another in the warm-up after Cam Bairstow's rotten injury luck continued when he tweaked his ankle just minutes out from tip-off.
It tested the Hawks depth, but the roster once again stood up to the task, with the 2-0 start on the road - a first in the club's 43-year history - made all the more remarkable by the wild ride the club has been on since leaving Wollongong on Boxing Day.
They bunkered down in Albury for a fortnight amid fresh COVID chaos, before shifting to Cairns for the opening rounds of the rejigged season. With Cyclone Kimi edging closer to Queensland's tropical north prior to tip-off on Monday, the win was proof of the young Hawks ability to roll with the punches.
It was the club's most impressive win in a number of seasons, knocking off genuine title contenders on their own floor and sending a league-wide message that the Goorjian era looks bright for the foundation club.
With a couple of marquees missing, it was the remaining stars that led the way, with Tyler Harvey finishing with 25 points and seven assists. After a quiet outing on NBL debut against the Bullets on Saturday, Justinian Jessup literally could not miss from deep, going a perfect 4-4 from beyond the arc to finish with 24 points.
"I had to go back, look at the film, I think the two fouls early kind of threw me out of my rhythm in the last game," Jessup said.
"My teammates just found me tonight, I was able to get some good looks early and just went from there. It was just effort, we've got guys that want to play hard and are committed at the defensive end.
"Coach Goorjian preaches that all year it's going to be about defence. If we get stops, we can run and play in transition. That was the mentality for us tonight and it paid off for us."
Justin Simon again stuffed the sheet, finishing with 10 points and 12 rebounds in a double-double, while Sam Froling backed up his first career start with another 11 points and six rebounds.
Majok Deng led the Snakes with 20 points and six rebounds, while Kouat Noi was hot early to finish with 16 points. Scott Machado had 11 points and 11 assists in a double-double, but the Hawks were dominant from start to finish, leading at every interval and closing the show.
They'll face a short turnaround into a second clash with Brisbane on Thursday, their third game in six days, but confidence will be sky-high following the demolition job on last year's finalists'.
Jessup got going from the outset, grabbing a transition lay-up and a couple of triples in an eight-point burst to start the game, with Harvey also firing from the perimeter.
Machado had his side's first three in response, but Simon waltzed into the paint and delivered a slam that was the exclamation point on a 13-8 start that forced Mike Kelly into his first timeout.
Noi had back to back threes as the hosts pegged things back but Harvey's second from long-range re-took momentum for the visitors. Noi fired back to cut the margin back to two, but Harvey claimed the first-term duel, following up Simon's first three with a bomb on the buzzer.
It saw Harvey finish with 13 points for the quarter and capped a 10-0 run to close the term and take a 12-point cushion to the first break.
Machado had seven points out of the break, but six more from Jessup and slam from Froling kept the buffer at double digits. A quick six points from Majok Deng pegged it back to five, but a 9-4 run gave the Hawks a nine-point lead at the main break.
Harvey had four more points to start the third, shooting the lead back out to 14 and forcing Kelly into an early timeout. It did little to dent a 9-2 run that was finally halted by a three and a pair of deep two for the hosts from Deng, with 90 seconds left in the term.
It cut the margin back to seven before Simon pulled the air out of the arena with a block on Deng and a transition lay-up to give the visitors a nine-point lead at the final break.
Froling had the first four points of the fourth, while Jessup added five, including his fourth triple from as many attempts, as the Hawks cruised to the finish.