Hawks make it Back-to-Back wins, stopping the Taipans 107-95 in Cairns.

Eleven players, eleven scorers, and a fourth quarter that belonged to us.

Back-to-back away wins, and a result that makes up for Round 4. At Cairns Convention Centre on Thursday night we beat the Taipans 107-95, a reversal of the 110-100 loss to them at home. All eleven of us who played scored, our bench outscored theirs 38-20, and after trailing 35-32 at the first break we won every quarter after it.

Eleven in, eleven scored

Kelan Martin led the way off the bench with 19 points on 7 from 13, three triples and 3 assists, and seven of those points came in the fourth quarter. Davo Hickey added 12 on 5 from 8 with 4 rebounds and 3 assists, six of them in the fourth, including a fake handoff that sent the Taipans defence the wrong way and ended in a two-handed dunk straight down the middle. Johny Narkle grabbed 4 rebounds and a steal, Lamar Patterson added 2 boards, and Daniel Grida and Todd Blanchfield both found the scoresheet. That is 38 bench points from six players.

Maker at the summit

Makur Maker finished with 24 points on 9 from 14, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks, and was a plus 19 in his 31 minutes. He had 18 at the half. It equalled his NBL career high of 24 points. He set up Wani Swaka Lo Buluk for consecutive layups in the third quarter, and with 4:39 left in the fourth, after Keanu Pinder had dunked to cut us to two, Maker met him at the summit and erased his next attempt.

Doyle puts McVeigh on an island

Milton Doyle had 18 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, his highest-scoring game since Round 4 against Tasmania. His third-quarter triple, set up by Sam Froling, pushed us to 85-80. In the fourth he got Jack McVeigh isolated, drew the foul, made his first free throw to make it 103-93, and then grabbed the rebound of his own miss. He finished 6 from 7 at the line.

Harvey from the logo

Tyler Harvey had 19 points on 7 from 12 with five threes. One came with a second left in the first quarter and cut the Cairns lead to 35-32 at the break. The one we remember is the trademark floater with 3:14 to play that made it 102-91 to put the nail in the coffin for Cairns.

Nine unanswered when it mattered

Pinder’s dunk with 6:32 left made it 93-91, and the Taipans did not score again for three and a half minutes. In that time we scored nine straight: Martin from deep off a Hickey offensive rebound, Hickey’s dunk, Martin from the elbow, then Harvey’s floater. By the time Cairns got on the board again we led 102-93 and were not looking back.

Sixty per cent from the floor

Cairns made us earn it. They were hot early, hitting 8 of 10 from three in the first quarter, and from 25-21 up we watched them score the next 11 points. They finished with 26 assists to our 15. But we shot 39 from 65, 60.0 per cent, to their 34 from 74. Nine fewer shots, five more makes. In the third quarter we flipped a 70-64 deficit into an 87-82 lead, outscoring them 23-12 over the final 7:35. Pinder finished with 21 points and 8 rebounds, and McVeigh with 20 points and 7 assists. To every Hawkhead backing us from home, this one was for you.

Flinny and Gordie

It was a night for Matt Flinn. The game in Cairns was his 500th in Hawks colours, counting his time as both a player and a coach. In the crowd was Gordie McLeod, the former Hawks captain and coach who first got Flinn into basketball and now lives in Cairns.

The travelling Hawks fan group was there too, and they follow us on to Adelaide for Saturday’s game against the 36ers.

Over to you, Hawkheads

Your Greater Bank Game MVP vote is open. Makur Maker had 24 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks. Tyler Harvey had 19 points and five threes. Kelan Martin had 19 points off the bench. Milton Doyle had 18 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Make the call.

Next stop, Adelaide

We are back on the floor on Saturday 7 November at 5:30pm, away against the Adelaide 36ers at Adelaide Entertainment Centre. It is the third stop on our five-game road swing.

Attention Hawks members

Check your email at 8am tomorrow for a special offer. When we win, you win!

HUNGRY JACK’S NBL27 (Boxscore)

Illawarra Hawks 107 (Makur Maker 24, Tyler Harvey 19, Kelan Martin 19, Milton Doyle 18, William Hickey 12)
Cairns Taipans 95 (Keanu Pinder 21, Jack McVeigh 20, Jaylon Brown 14, Luke Paul 12)

Press Conference presented by Relativity Films

Highlights

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