Dominant Hawks run Bullets off the floor in Wollongong

The Bullets shaped as a dangerous 'free-swing' prospect but the Hawks side were clinical from the jump, racking up 53 points by halftime.

In the absence of franchise man Tylers Harvey, who was rested with a knee injury Justinian Jessup went off for 20 points at 7/8 from the field in the first half alone.

He finished with 29 at 11-17, 5-10 from deep, but the damage was done early. Antonius Cleveland was on triple-double watch before finishing with 14 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Sixth Man of the Year favourite Xavier Rathan Mayes had 14 points and five dimes, with Sam Froling the other Hawk in double digits with 10 points and five boards.

It was a vital win in their penultimate home game of the regular season, a clash with arch-rivals Sydney in a fortnight's time their last non-finals outing in Wollongong.

"It was an important win. Tyler's such an integral part of what we do and then coming off that big emotional win in Melbourne... it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride over the last month," Goorjian said.

"We identified this, for a number of reasons, to be a really dangerous game. It wasn't perfect but it was definitely one, for the staff, there were concerns coming in here tonight.

"Bottom line is I'm really pleased with the win and [there's] five games to go."

They move to 16-8 and leapfrog Perth into third spot ahead of a trip back to the southern capital to face a United squad still smarting from a 15-point last-start loss to Brian Goorjian's team on their home floor.

Goorjian missed that trip with COVID, but will be on deck for a game that could push his side to the top of the ladder should they claim a second straight victory over the defending champions and other results conceivably fall their way.

He'll be hoping to have Harvey back on deck for the clash with United but it shapes as a game-day call.

"It's not serious, but he had a slip and a fall in practice," Goorjian said.

"It's a knee situation and it was one of those ones where you give him a fitness test on the night. The evaluation was his call at the end and he just didn't feel comfortable with it.

"We'll do the same thing [on Saturday]. We don't know what's going to transpire over the next 48 hours so the next game's questionable, but it's not long-term.

"He will be back before we get too deep into these last five games."

The Bullets looked to have the fight stripped from them early, Robert Franks playing a virtual lone hand with 13 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.

Tamuri Wigness had 11 points from the bench, while Lamar Patterson had 10 points at a lowly 4-14 from the field.

Jessup exploded to start the game with 12 points in just over four minutes, including two triples that forced James Duncan into a timeout to halt a 10-0 run.

It ballooned to 14-0 before Patterson blunted the assault with a neat jumper but the resistance was momentary, White dropping back to back threes from the bench as the lead went out to 14 at quarter-time.

Cleveland had the Hawks first six points to start the second before Tom Digbeu got going with eight points, the last three from deep to cut the margin back to five.

Read more: Goorjian returns from living room nightmare

Rathan-Mayes fired straight back and Jessup followed up with two of his own, the second from an impossible angle, to re-take a 12-point lead and take his personal tally to 20 for the half.

Froling pushed to 14 with a tough finish at the rim to nudge the score along to 53-39 at the main break.

The torture continued for Duncan who burned a timeout just a minute into the third term after an uncontested triple from Rathan-Mayes pushed the gap to 19.

He got a response from Deng Deng, who had seven points, and Franks who cut the margin back to 10 with his first three on a 10-2 run for the visitors.

It was as close as they really got, with Jessup re-finding his groove with five points in the fourth, while Rathan-Mayes had six of his 14 points to close the show as the margin ballooned to 20.

It was junk-time from there.

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