The Hawks led by 10 at quarter-time in their best start to a game this season, only to trail by that same margin midway through the third quarter thanks largely to a 15-point second-quarter explosion from Vic Law.

The hosts fought back to get within one on a three from Tim Coenraad with six minutes left but could manage just nine more points from there as the Wildcats closed with a 24-9 run.

Having built the early lead predominantly in the paint, the Hawks went ice-cold from long-range, finishing at an abysmal 5-27 from deep. It was in stark contrast to the Wildcats who, after going 1-9 from the field to start, finished at 12-28 from long range.

Law finished with 22 points and seven rebounds, while Bryce Cotton shrugged off a slow start to finish with 24 points and four assists and Todd Blanchfield did the bulk of the late damage to finish with 20 points and five boards in just 22 minutes on the floor.

It confirmed the very worst of Hawks coach Brian Goorjian's pre-game fears.

"Going into this game I was really nervous about the match-ups on Vic Law and Bryce," Goorjian said.

"I thought our set-up defensively was Melbourne was better for us and Delly (Matthew Dellevadova) just did what he did. Tonight, those two scared me, how we matched up to them was a concern.

"At the start of the game we had them in check but from that point on we struggled to control that. I thought, as a coach and organisation, they did a really good job of creating mismatches with those two.

"Forcing a [Tim] Coenraad to switch onto Bryce, forcing a mismatch on Vic. I thought AC (Antonius Cleveland) struggled with Vic in the second half, particularly the second quarter.

"Big picture for us after last year, these [past] two games just say a lot about where we are all round as an organisation, as a team, as staff... we're just not there yet. Not even close."

Xavier Rathan-Mayes was the Hawks best with 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Justinian Jessup proved the only consistent scoring force with 17 points that included three of his team's five triples for the game.

Tyler Harvey had 11 points and four assists but crawled into double digits at 5-18 from the field, while Duop Reath endured an even tougher night with six points at 2-11.

The loss sees the Hawks drop to 4-3 and slip out of the top four for the first time this season ahead of Monday night's showdown with Adelaide in Wollongong.

It provides some genuine headaches for Goorjian, with his team having faded badly in consecutive games against title favourites.

Cotton had first points of the game from the foul-line, but the hosts made the early running with 9-0 run, an alley-oop slam from Cleveland on a dime from Harvey the exclamation point.

It forced Scott Morrison into an early timeout. Michael Frazier responded with the Cats first field goal from long-range, the only triple from 10 attempts from deep for the visitors in the first term.

In contrast, the Hawks attacked the paint, Rathan-Mayes and Akoldah Gak both contributing four each from the bench as the hosts took a double-digit lead to the first break.

Having attempted just one field goal in the opening term, Law exploded with back to back threes to start the second and had 11 before Goorjian called timeout with the deficit back to seven.

It nothing to slow the former Bullet, who kept things ticking with six straight points on a 10-0 run that cut the margin back to three before Jessup fired back with his second triple to steady at 37-32.

The Cats drew within one before Harvey drained his first three and Cleveland finished the term with one of two from at the line for a five-point halftime cushion.

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Having gone 2-8 from the field in the first half, Cotton got going with a pair of threes as the Cats took a seven-point lead midway through the third.

The Hawks were bone-dry in response, managing just six points through six minutes as the lead ballooned to 10.

The reigning MVP kept thing rolling to take his tally to 15 through three quarters, while Blanchfield contributed seven as the Wildcats led by nine at the final break.

Jessup had a quick five to start the fourth, as Law was forced to take a seat with his fourth foul after sending Rathan-Mayes to the line.

Coenraad got it back to a single point with his first triple, but Blanchfield responded with a four-point play on a 7-0 run that pushed the lead back out to eight with four minutes left.

It came in a flood from there, the visitors dropping 24 of the last 33 points for the game.

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