The Hawks mentor delved deep into his bag of tricks and came up with a coach's challenge, the veteran reviewing a questionable foul call against his side.

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The NBL's Replay Centre ruled in Illawarra's favour, the decision swinging the momentum for the match.

The Hawks went on an 8-0 run to turn an 88-82 deficit into a 90-88 lead, an advantage they would not relinquish as they went on to secure a 96-90 win over United in Melbourne.

The coach's challenge was only introduced this season and Goorjian is grateful for its implementation.

"It's fantastic," Goorjian said. "It's nice when you watch it on TV and it's questioned, the guy up there has got the guts to, if it's right, overturn it.

"It's happened against us, it's happened for us, but it's a nice facility.

"It's nice to know that when they view it they come back and tell the truth. It was a huge one, we got the tip and we got the dunk, it was a big play for us."

While Goorjian receives the credit for the challenge, the mentor revealed the decision was a group effort.

Team officials watched a replay before instructing the coach to review the call.

It's a method that has proven successful for the Hawks throughout the season.

"We've got somebody there that's seen it and they say 'hey, you want to challenge that, it was clean'.

"When I've had the opportunity and the timing's worked and he's said that, every time the guy's told me to challenge, they've overturned it.

"A lot of times you don't get that opportunity. It moves too quick and you don't get to view it and the guesswork, sometimes you miss out.

"That one, we had enough time, he saw it, he told me to challenge it."

The win has the Hawks sitting third on the NBL ladder with four games to play.

With Tyler Harvey sitting out for a second-straight match with a knee injury, Xavier Rathan-Mayes stepped up for Illawarra.

The guard finished with 25 points, eight assists and six rebounds and nothing was going to stop him from leading his side to victory.

"I sent AC (teammate Antonius Cleveland) a text and I told him 'by any means necessary'. Whatever it is that we had to do to get it done tonight was what we were going to do,'' he said.

"Whether it was be aggressive scoring or be aggressive getting other guys the ball, that's what I was going to do.

"There was no specific mindset, it was just by any means necessary, we had to win tonight."

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