Hawks celebrate Goorjian's 800th with Finals clinching win

The Illawarra Hawks celebrated Brian Goorjian’s 800th NBL game in style on Friday, by clinching their NBL22 Finals spot against the Perth Wildcats.

This was done by the Hawks downing the Wildcats 82-77 at RAA Arena - marking the fourth time from 36 attempts they’ve done so in Western Australia.

The stars of the show were Tyler Harvey and Duop Reath, who combined for 41 points on the night.

The former scored a team-high 22 points, including six triples, to go along with five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

While Reath added 19 points, eight boards and five blocks in the Hawks’ 18th win of NBL22.

The other double-digit scorer for the Hawks on Friday was Xavier Rathan-Mayes, who tallied 12 points, four rebounds and four assists off the bench.

The tightness of the game was exemplified by the first, third and fourth terms being equal in scoring output - with only the second being won by the Hawks by five points, which proved to be the difference.

On top of that, both teams shot 40 per cent from the field and grabbed 45 rebounds.

But the Hawks won the free-throw battle (92 per cent to 69), blocks (7-0) and fast-break points (6-0).

In the round 21 loss, Bryce Cotton was massive, with a game-high 25 points, complemented by three boards and three assists.

The three-time MVP was supported by Majok Majok (16 points and 10 rebounds) and Michael Frazier II (11 points) in the scoring column.

Despite the intimidating home crowd, the Hawks raced out to a 12-9 lead after a Duop Reath jumper, midway through the opening term.

A Bryce Cotton triple, his third for the period, levelled it up at 15-all soon after.

As the time ticked down, Emmett Naar celebrated his 100th NBL game with a tough lay-up, to help the Hawks go into the first break equal 24-all - marking the first time the hosts were tied after the first 10 minutes all NBL22.

In the second term, four straight points by Sam Froling capped an 8-2 run by the foundation club, forcing Scott Morrison to call a time-out.

That break in play proved beneficial for the Cats, as Cotton and Michael Frazier II inspired their side to go on a run for themselves and level it up 37-all.

The Cats couldn’t hit the front though, with Reath and Harvey hitting back-to-back jumpers, to put Goorjian’s side up by five.

Thanks to late free-throws by Cleveland, the Hawks held that advantage into the main break (50-45).

Reath paced the Hawks through the first 20 minutes with 12 points, while Cotton led all scorers with 15.

Harvey continued to heat up as the match progressed, scoring the Hawks’ first five points of the second stanza.

An end-to-end take by Rathan-Mayes then extended Illawarra’s lead to 11 midway through the quarter.

Perth never gave up though, ending the term on a 10-4 run, to close within five points (67-62) at the last change.

Despite Harvey’s sixth triple, Cotton continued to chip away at the lead and made it a one-point game following a driving right-hand lay-up.

A tough Sam Froling and-one followed by a Cleveland putback saw the lead balloon to six with 5.40 to play.

With 3.56 on the clock, Cleveland fouled out on a Todd Blanchfield three-point attempt, which sparked Morrison’s troops to score six of the next eight points - to make it 80-77 with just over two to play.

At the death, both teams missed plenty of open shots and chances to take the game by the scruff of the neck before Harvey hit two late shots from the stripe, to seal the 

Next up for the Hawks is their final regular-season game of the season against arch-rivals Sydney at Qudos Bank Areba - in the fourth Adrian Hurley Cup showdown of NBL22.

The winner of this NSW derby will lock up second spot on the ladder, ahead of the NBL22 Finals starting next week - which will pit the two against one another in the semi-finals for the first time ever.