Hawks lose to Kings despite full house

The Illawarra Hawks have dropped game one of their NBL22 semi-final series, losing 89-79 to the Sydney Kings on Friday night.

In front of a full house (5,621) at the WIN Entertainment Centre, the Kings’ win was set up by newly crowned league MVP Jaylen Adams, who scored a game-high 30 points, to go along with six rebounds and five assists.

The Maryland native was well-supported by Ian Clark 916 points), Dejan Vasiljevic (12 points), Makur Maker (11 points) and Xavier Cooks (11 points) - with the latter also adding 10 boards, four dimes, three blocks and one steal.

Those individual performances, as well as superior field goal percentage (47 per cent to 37), assists output (17-11), steals (6-2) points in the paint (46-28) and bench points (32-9).

In the defeat, the Hawks were best served by Duop Reath, who tallied 26 points and 10 points.

Defensive Player of the Year Antonius Cleveland managed 21 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks, while Tyler Harvey added 10 points and eight boards.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">That first quarter belonged to <a href="https://twitter.com/ac_uno1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ac_uno1</a> ?<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> <br> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TogetherWeFly?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TogetherWeFly</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreIllawarra?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreIllawarra</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://t.co/vgoFQf35MF">pic.twitter.com/vgoFQf35MF</a></p>— Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1519980015030472704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Thanks to a raucous crowd (the biggest since the Hawks' 2010 grand final appearance), Sam Froling started on fire, scoring the Hawks’ first four points, to put his team in front.

Illawarra pushed on from there, with four straight points from Reath putting the hosts up 12-5 and forcing a Chase Buford into a time-out.

Cleveland then joined in the fun with 11 straight of his own, mixed in with an incredible block, as the Hawks led 24-19 with a minute to play - an advantage which was closed to two points (24-22) at the first change.

The visitors opened term two strongly, rattling off the first seven points, to hit the front 29-24.

Sparked again by Cleveland, the hosts clawed their way back to trail 32-31 midway through the period.

That was as close as the Hawks got during that run, as MVP Adams scored seven of the Kings’ 12-0 run - as the purple and gold led 44-31 with 2.53 left in the second.

That was part of a five-minute stretch in which the Hawks went scoreless (and Sydney went 18-0 equalling that best streak of NBL22) before Rathan-Mayes hit a jumper with 15 seconds to play.

That stemmed the flow momentarily, as Angus Glover, in his first game as a King in Wollongong, scored as time expired, giving the visitors a 52-33 lead at the break - presenting Illawarra with its biggest deficit at half-time all season.

That was largely due to Illawarra shooting 3/19 in term number two, while Adams netted nine points himself.

A more determined Hawks side returned after the break, as Reath and Harvey helped their side score 13 of the first 18 points of the period.

Reath was doing it on both ends, with two athletic blocks, while Rathan-Mayes and Justinian Jessup started to heat up on the offensive end.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NOT IN <a href="https://twitter.com/DuopReath?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DuopReath</a>'s HOUSE ?<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/TogetherWeFly?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TogetherWeFly</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreIllawarra?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreIllawarra</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://t.co/V2l37xJfWw">pic.twitter.com/V2l37xJfWw</a></p>— Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1519992574370410496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Despite the improved play by Goorjian’s side, the Kings kept scoring through Cooks and Clark, to go into the final break up 74-57.

That margin closed to 11, as Illawarra opened on a 6-0 run to start the fourth before Reath capped a 13-4 run with a lay-up - making it 78-70 with 4.20 to play.

After the time-out, a two by Cleveland and three by Reath made it a one-possession game (78-75).

Adams’ clutch baskets pushed the lead back out to seven - before Clark closed it out with back-to-back tough lay-ups and an Adams triple sealed the 89-79 win.

The two NSW sides will face off in game two of the NBL22 semi-final series on Sunday from 3pm at Qudos Bank Arena.