The Illawarra Hawks have ended their 616-day wait for two wins on the bounce in emphatic fashion, hammering the South East Melbourne Phoenix 100-72 at Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium on Saturday.
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It was perhaps the Hawks best performance in recent history and the third from four games for interim coach Justin Tatum.
And importantly it was the second game on the trot that the Hawks hit triple figures, improving their win/loss record to 5-8.
Illawarra fans would also be ecstatic to see Tyler Harvey find form, leading all scorers with 25 points, 22 of which came in the first half.
Sam Froling and Gary Clark, the Hawks go-to-men for much of the season, also came up big, especially in the second half.
Clark came to life in the third and fourth terms to finish with a double-double, contributing 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Froling also came into his own in the second half, finishing with 16 points and six boards.
Illawarra started brightly with Harvey (10 points) and Justin Robinson (6) leading the way as they led by seven points with just over three minutes left in the first quarter but it was the home team Phoenix who led at the break 27-22 after going on a 14-2 run to end the quarter.
The Hawks were worried about the one-two punch of Gary Browne and Alan Williams pre-match and the duo produced the goods, especially big man Williams, who led all scorers with 11 points.
His physical presence also proved too hard to handle for Froling, with the Hawks co-captain picking up two early fouls.
Illawarra tightened the screws in the second quarter, giving up only 12 points while adding 26 points of their own.
And it was that man Harvey who did most of the damage, finishing the half with 22 points from four of five three-point attempts.
The red-hot guard could have had more but Hawks interim coach Tatum had to sit Harvey down for most of the second term as he had three fouls to his name.
The 48-39 lead the Hawks enjoyed at halftime came despite their two leading scorers Clark and Froling combining for only two points.
The Hawks as a whole though shot the ball very well in the first half, making 18 of 35 shots compared to the Phoenix who shot at dismal 29 per cent clip, making only 11 of their 37 shots.
Phoenix kept themselves in the game with their rebounding, out-rebounding the Hawks 26-19.
But the Hawks again stepped up their game at both ends of the court in the third quarter leading by a game-high 17-points at one stage before heading to the last change 73-58 to the good.
This time it was Clark (8 points, 11 rebounds and four assists) and Froling (11 points and four rebounds) who stepped up for the Hawks.
The Hawks got a break before the game started, with gun Phoenix player Mitch Creek ruled out with a leg injury he sustained in the throwdown loss to Melbourne United on Thursday.
Though South East were boosted by new import Abdel Nader, who played his first game for the club, since arriving as a replacement for Will Cummings.
Nader, spent almost five seasons playing over 220 games in the NBA but due to a serious injury hasn't played at this level since 2021.
Though his presence had little effect on the Phoneix, who have now dropped their last two games.
Tatum praised the Hawks energy and commitment throughout the game.
The coach also welcomed the return to form of Harvey.