Hawks Heartbreak in Sydney

Tyler Harvey put in a dazzling fourth quarter performance to appear to lead the Illawarra Hawks to a drought breaking win, but then Shaun Bruce snapped their hearts in half with a three-pointer on the buzzer to give the Sydney Kings the 83-82 win.

It was yet another chapter in the remarkable Freeway Series rivalry in front of a massive 11,032 crowd at Qudos Bank Arena. The Hawks looked to have done enough thanks to Harvey's 32 points with 16 in the fourth quarter, but the door was left open.

Davo Hickey appeared the Illawarra hero blocking Bruce's drive to the basket with the Hawks up two. But time was left on the clock, Angus Glover found Bruce on the inbounds pass and the 262-game veteran guard showed ice in his veins to knock it down for the walk off winner.

Both teams were playing their first game since the FIBA break and neither was at full strength. Sydney was missing Grand Final MVP Xavier Cooks and Illawarra without import duo Peyton Siva and George King, but what it all added up to was a dramatic afternoon.

It was a heartbreaking way to lose for a Hawks team who showed great heart to come back from being 13 points down and be in a winning position. 

Harvey was brilliant with 32 points on 13/23 shooting with 4/9 from downtown while fellow co-captain Sam Froling had 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Hickey had his breakout NBL performance with nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals with Mangok Mathiang stepping up for nine points and five boards.

Just as the signs were getting ominous, the Hawks responded and it included Mangok Mathiang providing a strong inside presence and Davo Hickey giving a spark with the ball in his hands.

When Hickey hit a triple just before half-time, the Hawks were on an 11-2 run and by half-time had cut the Sydney advantage to 42-39 with both teams combining to shoot 6-23 from deep – the Kings 4/16 and Hawks 2/7.

The Kings threatened to pull away early in the second half after a couple of buckets to DJ Vasiljevic, but the Hawks were able to respond with an 8-0 run topped off by Hickey to take a 50-49 lead.

It was Tyler Harvey's turn to take over the contest in the fourth quarter to try and will the Hawks to the win. He hit two triples as part of a 10-0 run for Illawarra where he scored all 10 points to put them in front with 5:40 to play.

Another 8-2 run pushed Illawarra out to a four-point edge with co-captains Harvey and Froling doing the heavy lifting and throwing the gauntlet down to the defending champions.

Sydney hit back with the next four points from Justin Simon and Glover, but then Harvey showed his class with a tough shot with Illawarra up two with 32 seconds to go.

A strong block from Froling on Hunter kept Illawarra up two before Tim Coenraad hit two free-throws and then Shaun Bruce quickly scored a layup to maintain the status quo.

However, 359-game veteran Coenraad then missed two free-throws with seven seconds left. Eventually, Bruce knocked down the corner three on the inbounds pass and after a nervy review, the Kings celebrated.

It was the only game for both teams in Round 7 with the Hawks next in action in seven days' time away to the South East Melbourne Phoenix. 

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 7

SYDNEY KINGS 83 (Glover 13, Walton Jr 12, Soares 12)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 82 (Harvey 32, Froling 17, Mathiang 9, Hickey 9) 

BOX SCORE