Hawks down 36ers to charge back into top four

The Illawarra Hawks are back in the NBL top four after downing the Adelaide 36ers 87-71 at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

Leading the way for the Hawks was Australian Boomer Duop Reath, who tallied 18 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two assists.

The former LSU Tiger was well supported by NBL Next Star Justinian Jessup (17 points), Isaac White (who scored a season-high 14) and Tyler Harvey (12).

Strong performance by those four, as well as wins in the field goal (45 per cent to 32 per cent), free-throws (92 per cent to 75), assists (21-15), steals (5-1), blocks (9-6), turnovers (5-10) and fast-break points (13-0) categories sealed the hosts’ victory.

In the defeat, former Hawk Sunday Dech top scored with 18, with Todd Withers and Daniel Johnson both adding 13.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A three-point play by <a href="https://twitter.com/samfroling_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@samfroling_</a> to celebrate his new three-year Hawks contract ?<br><br>?: <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Foxtel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Foxtel</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreIllawarra?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreIllawarra</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://t.co/jD7DoWZdGT">pic.twitter.com/jD7DoWZdGT</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1497130474879082497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Following a moment's silence for Hawks co-owner Michael Proctor, Sam Froling, fresh off his new three-year deal, opened the hosts’ account with a three-point play, closely followed by a Harvey triple and seven straight points for Reath - as the Hawks raced out to a 13-5 lead.

Despite eight first-quarter points by former Hawk Dech, Illawarra stayed in front of their rivals - thanks largely to a seven-point spark from bench guard White.

At the end of period one, the Hawks led 26-20.

This continued in the second term, as the Hawks scored eight of the first 10 points, to stretch their lead to 12 with 7.33 to play.

The Hawks kept their foot on the gas, with Jessup catching fire - scoring 12 second-quarter points, as the lead grew to 18.

Clutch baskets late in the half by 36ers' Johnson brought the score back to 50-37 at the main break.

Back-to-back triples by Dech and Johnson after the intermission brought the Sixers to within seven.

Another triple for the former got the visitors to within five before Jessup continued his strong game with two tough baskets.

The visitors’ strong run (20-7) to start the third was capped off by an and-one by Filipo star Kai Sotto and a triple by Johnson - to level the scores 57-all.

A timely Reath shot from downtown settled the hosts, to ensure they led 62-57 at the final change.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/IsaacLewisWhite?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IsaacLewisWhite</a> goes bang-bang from downtown ?<br><br>?: <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Foxtel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Foxtel</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreIllawarra?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreIllawarra</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://t.co/Wm2lWN2OHO">pic.twitter.com/Wm2lWN2OHO</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1497150242776489985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sparked by a big Sam Froling dunk and White triple, the Hawks scored five of the first seven points of the fourth, to extend their lead to eight with 6.56 to go.

Point guard Harvey then rattled off seven straight, to extend the Hawks’ lead to 12.

A runaway dunk by Duop put the exclamation point on the 16-point win.

The Hawks, who improve to 9-7 on the season, next travel to Hobart on Tuesday to face the New Zealand Breakers from 7.30pm AEDT.