Hawks put the clamps on Cairns to win again

The Result

Illawarra Hawks 93 - Cairns Taipans 81

The Story

It was a memorable milestone night for captain AJ Ogilvy as the Hawks rose to the occasion to collect a well-deserved 93-81 win at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

It was the birthday boy - Justinian Jessup - who got the Hawks scoring underway this afternoon though, landing his first three-point attempt of the night from next to the Kmart logo in a sign of things to come for the Hawks faithful.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Birthday boy goes BANG!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IllawarrProud?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IllawarrProud</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://t.co/0Ybb85dZnY">pic.twitter.com/0Ybb85dZnY</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1396363866095771649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sam Froling was active early, dropping in a two of his own before chasing down his own miss and handing off a dime to 200-gamer Ogilvy to open his account.

But it was the Taipans who shot out to an early 14-9 lead on the back of six points from Majok Deng.

His Hawks namesake Deng Deng soon got open to finally knock down a shot for the home side after more than three minutes without a bucket, before Tyler Harvey opened his account with a trademark three.

The Hawks suffocating defence helping them back into the contest as the Taipans led 23-21 at the first break.

The early part of the second term belonged to the Taipans as Scott Machado and Venky Jois got loose for seven and eight points respectively, with the lead pushing out to nine.

Another Jessup three helped bridge the gap, before returning hero Tim Coenraad knocked down back-to-back three balls to set the crowd alight and cut the margin to two. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What rust <a href="https://twitter.com/coenraad22?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@coenraad22</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/wAWLkKmCDc">pic.twitter.com/wAWLkKmCDc</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1396371140738650118?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Hawks riding a huge 18 point half from Jessup to trail 53-48 at the main break.

Illawarra opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run to briefly take the lead - with Froling immense on the defensive end as he denied Nate Jawai not once but twice in the space of two minutes. Captain Ogilvy got in on the action as well as the Hawks built a fortress around their hoop.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Block party feat. Hawks ?<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/Jhb2Ef1SqF">pic.twitter.com/Jhb2Ef1SqF</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1396379766689730564?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ogilvy continued to star in his milestone match - with the Hawks skipper finishing the third quarter with 11 points, nine rebounds, a steal and a block.

The Hawks outscoring the Snakes by 17 to lead 71-59 at three quarter time.

Cairns threw one last punch at the Hawks to open the fourth and final frame, the visitors going on a 10-2 run to drag the lead back to four.

Deng Deng knocked down another three to reclaim some much-needed momentum, before laying a saveage block on the defensive end to ignite the locals.

The trademark Illawarra hustle coming to the fore in the second half, with the Hawks limiting Cairns to 28 points after halftime as the Hawks cruised to a comfortable 93-81 victory.

The Stats

Tyler Harvey became the first player this year to make 100 three-pointers in tonight's game while AJ Ogilvy notched up his first double double of the season.

Several Hawks didn't shoot the ball well tonight - but the scoring power of Harvey, Jessup and Froling more than made up for it.

Illawarra knocking down 41% of their shots from the field to Cairns' 51% marker.

The Hawks revelled in the paint, winning the rebound battle 49-35 while also chipping in 20 second chance points to the Taipans 14. 

The defensive stats continue to roll in for the Hawks with Froling (4), Deng (3) and Jessup (2) all showing off their blocking prowess as the Hawks stopped 10 shots to 1.

In another promising sign for coach Brian Goorjian, Illawarra is getting to line more often of late and the side knocked down 13/18 free throws at a 72% clip.

The Fallout

"I knew coming in here, I knew this game was going to be nasty and really important to us. They've got nothing to lose, free-flowing, [Nate] Jawai's playing well, they've got shooters. And I thought again the first half issue was really mine, in the fact that we were doubling on those on-balls trying to keep Scott [Machado] out of the lane and we gave up catch-and-shoot, feet set threes because the rotations were a little slow...and in the second half we took the three ball away," coach Brian Goorjian said.

"In getting to know Tim [Coenraad] I made a mistake. I should have never had him retire when he did. I put it on COVID that I didn't get an opportunity to be face-to-face and see him in person. I just went by video and no touch. And for him, an opportunity to come and for him to put his hand up and say "I'm in coach" and he's been relentless, he's helped with the team spirit, the culture of the team, he's a Hawk. And tonight we were down seven, it was going away from us and he came in and hit some big shots for us and he's a threat, and he defended for us, he played with big heart. Really, really pleased to be going down this back stretch with him," Goorjian said.

"These last three games at home I feel like it's my responsibility, my job, we gotta get this stadium filled. They keep talking about triple doubles. The triple doubles for me are three games, double the crowd...I've said it all year, they're gonna play their arse off. They're gonna make this community proud. And we've layed the table, these players have layed the table. My job is to promote. And if I can't get this stadium going and this place filled for these last three games I'm gonna be disappointed in myself. So I'm talking to Wollongong, I'm talking to the community, let's go. Let's go. I don't care about the red army, I don't care about anybody else, this is the Gong," Goorjian said.

"It means the world. When I saw that they signed Brian my first reaction was "man I want to play for that guy". The thing on me is that I've never had a problem shooting the basketball, but the defensive end is always something that I wanna get better at...no team's ever won a championship that can't play D alright. So him pushing the defensive end so hard is helping me, it's making me understand the game better which is great," Hawks wing Tim Coenraad said.

"Being able to come out of retirement and contribute something. I'm slowly working my way, finding his spots but it's getting better and better each game so I'm looking forward to down the stretch playing in games that actually matter," Coenraad said.

"The first game I got put in I played five straight minutes where there was no stoppage in play and that let me know that I was not in game shape yet. The touch has never been something that leaves, as a shooter you take a couple of days to get some shots up, it's something that comes back pretty quick. But like I said the main thing that I'm trying to focus is the defensive end. Keep guys in front of me, show, know the scout, know when to help, rotate hard, can't get caught flat-footed on rotations," Coenraad said.

The Road Ahead

Round 20 - Friday May 28, 5:30pm AEST v NZ Breakers @ The Stockyard (NZ)