Hawks brave but Wildcats reign supreme in the West

The Result

Illawarra Hawks 70 - Perth Wildcats 81

The Story

The drought out West continues for the Hawks after a red-hot start was thwarted by a four-quarter effort from a more polished Wildcats side in Perth tonight. The loss now seeing the Hawks now drop out of the top four for the first time this season - going down 81-70.

As expected, defensive juggernaut Justin Simon was thrust into the Hawks starting lineup to match up with Bryce Cotton and the tone was set on the opening possession when Simon and captain AJ Ogilvy managed to force Cotton into an early turnover.

'Next Star' Justinian Jessup opened the account for the visitors with back-to-back buckets, as the Hawks finally flushed away their series of slow starts.

The Golden State Warriors draftee lit up RAC Arena on his way to nine points in the first six minutes as the Hawks shot out to an early 14-6 lead.

The Hawks revved up the defensive intensity as well and were doing all the little things well in the opening frame - with Sam Froling ensuring no easy buckets were going in his side's hoop.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Long arm of the law <a href="https://twitter.com/sfrol13?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sfrol13</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IllawarraProud?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IllawarraProud</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://t.co/1h5m4IGRq0">pic.twitter.com/1h5m4IGRq0</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1375402589873790978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Froling continuing his breakout season with eight points in the quarter as the Hawks took a 26-17 lead into the first break.

The second stanza was nothing more than a slog - 12 points through the opening six minutes proof both side's had ramped up their defensive effort in a game that had playoff-like intensity.

Nothing could stop Tyler Harvey though - the point guard producing another trademark floater after splitting his way through the Perth defence on his way to nine first half points.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Special <a href="https://twitter.com/YoungTRaaw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YoungTRaaw</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IllawarraProud?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IllawarraProud</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://t.co/UsgdOqBaMa">pic.twitter.com/UsgdOqBaMa</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1375405332797612037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ogilvy continued his stellar season - with deflections, blocks and tip-ins all helping his side maintain an edge over the reigning champs, while Cam Bairstow made an encouraging return from injury with seven first half points.

A late Wildcats fightback taking some of the shine off one of the Hawks best halves of the season - Illawarra leading by two at the big break.

The premiership quarter saw the Wildcats slowly grind their way to the front courtesy of some tough defence and offensive prowess from John Mooney and Clint Steindl - while Bairstow did his best to keep the Hawks within reach.

The Wildcats managing to forge their way to the lead despite superstar Cotton only having nine points through three quarters - Perth leading 60-58 at the final turn.

The final quarter saw the Hawks slowly slip behind, as for the second game in a row, open shots failed to fall and the defence deserted the visitors when it counted.

The Hawks missed 17 three-pointers in a row at one stage before Jessup scored his first points since the first quarter - and in a worrying sign for Brian Goorjian - his side could only manage a dozen in the final quarter - with Harvey going scoreless.

Cotton couldn't be kept down all game either - landing an incredible array of shots in the fourth quarter on his way to a game-high 22 points as the Wildcats ran away with an 81-70 win. The Hawks outscored in the second half 42-29.

The Stats

The Hawks struggles from three continue - the one time league leaders in three-point percentage only managing a miserly 16% (4/24) from beyond the arc. It proved the difference in this one with Perth dropping 9/28 at a 32% clip.

The Hawks also continue to waste opportunities at the charity stripe - making only 66% of their free throws to the Wildcats 82%.

A big defensive presence was definitely noticeable from the Hawks in this one - and seven steals and six blocks prove the side was locked in on the defensive end. 

Jessup led all scorers for the Hawks with 15 - doing his damage in the opening and closing quarters. Harvey ended the game on 13.

The Wildcats bench did it's fair share of damage with 30 bench points in the contest - while the Hawks could only manage 19 with Bairstow tipping in 13 of those.

Harvey led all rebounders with eight, while Ogilvy, Emmett Naar and Deng Adel all managed a pair of assists.

The Fallout

"I just thoughr they wore us down, wore us out...we're playing the best team in the competition right now that's deep and physical on their own court. The guys dug deep, gave ourselves our chances, but I thought the finish to the game had everything to do with being worn...it has been tough but I'm proud of my team and I thought they really went there tonight," coach Brian Goorjian said.

"As I look at this thing it's a concern for me, rest is our friend. I'm trying to do everything I possibly can to give these guys rest...I didn't have anything to say [during the timeouts], there was nothing wrong, I just wanted to give them rest. I had three for the second half and tried to do everything I can to give them rest periodically with my timeouts and substitutions. I thought we had a chance, they really dug deep tonight," Goorjian said.

"It is what he [Cotton] does. You're a step off the guy, a step slow, a hand down, a missed assignment and with fatigure that comes. And he senses it, he's smart, he sees it, he read it and he knew in the fourth quarter where we were and took full advantage of it. What we were trying to do was contain him and stay in the game and give ourselves a chance...nobody got hot at the end and we just didn't do what we needed to stay in the game in that fourth quarter" Goorjian said.

"We're 17 games into it and now we've got an opportunity and maybe get a little run at home, it's gonna make or break our season right now when we get back. The home games in the home environment is gonna be everything for us and that's coming over the next three weeks," Goorjian said.

"I think we did a great job through three quarters...we showed we're competitive with Perth who Goorj said is the best team in the league at home. We just need to tidy up a few things in that fourth quarter...we need to get through a whole game of basketball playing our way. we've gotta put four quarters together," Ogilvy said.

The Road Ahead

Round 11 – Monday March 29 at 7:30pm AEDT v Brisbane Bullets @ WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

Finally, after more than six straight weeks on the road, the Hawks will return to the WIN Entertainment Centre for NBL basketball when they face the in-form Brisbane Bullets.

These two sides have already met on three occasions so far this season - with the Hawks currently leading the series 2-1 after two victories in Brisbane in the opening two weeks of the season. The Bullets came from behind to defeat the Hawks during the NBL Cup and have been on a tear every since.

The game is sure to ramifications for the playoff picture - with both sides heading into the clash having played 17 games and with the Hawks dropping out of the top four for the first time all season.