Hawks Soar Over Wildcats

The Hawks have secured their first preseason win under new coach Brian Goorjian with an impressive 82-74 victory over the Perth Wildcats at the Bendat Basketball Centre.

After losing to the Wildcats on Tuesday night, the Hawks responded with a strong defensive performance spearheaded by import signing Justin Simon who recorded eight steals to go along with his 14 points and five rebounds.

Fellow Hawks import Tyler Harvey again showed why he will be one of the NBL’s most dangerous scorers this season with 18 points while NBL Next Star and Golden State Warriors draftee Justinian Jessup posted 14 points and six rebounds. Deng Deng (12 points) and Emmett Naar (10 points) also made positive contributions for the Hawks in the win.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Step ? hold THAT.<br><br>Tyler Harvey is a professional scorer.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/YoungTRaaw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YoungTRaaw</a> <a href="https://t.co/v7qozg02AW">pic.twitter.com/v7qozg02AW</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1339531542280851456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

John Mooney was Perth’s best player as he amassed a double-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds. The Hawks did a good job of shutting down MVP Bryce Cotton who managed just six points on two-of-seven shooting.

<div style="position: relative; display: block; max-width: 960px;"><div style="padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://players.brightcove.net/6084369199001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6216865173001" allowfullscreen="" allow="encrypted-media" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%;"></iframe></div></div>