Hawks Slugged Again by Bullets

Illawarra Hawks slugged again as the Brisbane Bullets made it back-to-back wins, prevailing 86-61.

It was the Bullets' first home win of the season on the back of shooting 41 per cent to 30 from the Hawks, pulling down 55 rebounds to 42 and having six players scoring at least eight points.

It was tough going again for the Hawks who have now lost five straight including the last three by a combined 77 points.

Deng Deng top-scored against his old team with 11 points and 11 rebounds with George King adding nine points and Mangok Mathiang eight to go with five boards and two blocks.

Peyton Siva came in for his first game with nine points and five assists while hitting 3/5 from downtown but his new backcourt partner Tyler Harvey again struggled for seven points on 3/13 shooting.

Even though Peyton Siva made an immediate impact on debut for the Hawks with an early three, the first quarter was the Nathan Sobey show.

The Hawks showed some signs of life with a 9-0 run made up of two threes from George King and another from Wani Swaka Lo Buluk, but it was all Brisbane and they closed the first term on a nother 8-3 run to be up 29-17.

Things got no better in the second quarter for the Hawks who appeared to have no answers, no offensive flow, no bite on defence and now aggressiveness to attack. That was highlighted with them getting one free-throw for the entire half opposed to 12 from Brisbane.

Illawarra at least finished with Tim Coenraad throwing an alley-oop for the dunk finish from Davo Hickey.

The Hawks now return home to host Melbourne United on Saturday night.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 5

BRISBANE BULLETS 86 (Sobey 22, Froling 13, Cadee 13)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 61 (Deng 11, Siva 9, King 9) 

BOX SCORE