Illawarra Hawks overtime heartbreak has Goorjian steeled for NBL play-offs success

Down 107-102 with 20 seconds left at the WIN Entertainment Centre, Illawarra surprisingly chose not to intentionally foul their opponents and send them to the charity stripe, as the Kings ran out the clock.

Goorjian is still sweating on one more game to slam the door shut on Tasmania in the final week of the regular season, with his side needing to beat either Perth or Sydney on the road.

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The Hawks are well ahead of the JackJumpers in the percentage column, but could yet be vulnerable if Tasmania win their last three games and Illawarra lose both to be square in their overall win-loss record. It came before Tasmania prepared to face the Breakers on Friday night.

"We scored, making it a five-point game and then trapped them in the back court,'' Goorjian said. "After it came over the half-court line, you would [expect] a foul. But I said 'no, no, no' because we're not in the final four yet. We go to Perth and Sydney, and Tasmania are two losses behind, so this could come down to percentage.

"Every point counts, so if you foul someone and the final margin ends up being five instead of seven, it could be significant. If you're analysing and watching the game, it was a dumb play on my part but that was my thought process."

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The much-billed derby lived up to all the hype in front of a packed house in Wollongong. The Hawks had their chances to pinch victory but were forced to pay for inaccuracy in offense, shooting just 40/90 from the field, while their opponents shot at 45 per cent.

Tyler Harvey and Dejan Vasiljevic were the stars for their respective sides.

Harvey finished with 35 points, five assists and five rebounds, while teammate Justinian Jessup scored 21 points and Sam Froling (14 points, 13 boards) mustered a double-double.

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Sydney's Vasiljevic sunk nine three-pointers in a career-high tally of 33 points, with Jarelle Martin (21 points, six rebounds) and Jaylen Adams (17 points, seven boards and seven assists) also starring for the Kings, who have now secured 13 successive victories.

"It was a good game of basketball and we gave ourselves a chance to win,'' Goorjian said. ''My initial thought is disappointment that we lost the game. But, on the flip side, I've been in the NBL a long time, out and in, and the quality of basketball was pretty high. And there's no one better right now in this thing than the Kings. Being a week or two away from play-offs, we're not far off the mark.

"We walk away with our heads held high. I'm really excited about the community getting behind their team and I certainly don't feel like we disappointed them."