A 5621-strong crowd packed out the WEC on Friday night for the first NBL playoff of the season.
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While the hosts came out firing, it was the Kings who took a massive 52-33 lead into the half, before fighting off a surging Hawks outfit to prevail 89-79.
The result means the Illawarra must win the final two games of the semi-final series, starting on Sunday afternoon at Qudos Bank Arena, in order to progress to the NBL grand final.
Flick through the gallery above for all the photos and read the full match report here.
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