Hawks Take United to Double OT

With both teams desperate for a win, it took two overtime periods for Melbourne United to get a much-needed 106-100 victory and consign the Illawarra Hawks to a sixth straight NBL defeat on Saturday.

The stakes were high for both teams at WIN Entertainment Centre with the Hawks having lost five straight but the last three by a combined 77 points. Melbourne, meanwhile, arrived in Wollongong on its own three-game slide.

In the end, they brought back memories of a quadruple overtime classic four years ago in the same building and it delivered countless plot twists, two periods of overtime, a surreal victory to United, and a cruel sixth-straight defeat to the Hawks. 

Xavier Rathan-Mayes, a one-time Hawk, was the hero for United just to top things off.

It had more drama in the last minute of regulation than most fit into an entire 40-minute match. 

In all, there were 19 last-minute points before scores were tied at 85-85 at the end of regulation.

United composed themselves after that manic end to regulation and fended off a seven-point effort from Sam Froling (27 points, 17 rebounds for the game) in the first period of overtime alone to emerge victorious. 

The Hawks were up and about early, and Deng Deng’s athleticism was on show with a sky-high block of Brad Newley in the opening quarter. And no one started faster than Tyler Harvey, who had 10 of the Hawks’ first 14 points. 

It helped the Hawks’ secure just their second quarter-time lead of the season, which was a narrow 20-18 edge over United. Harvey would eventually finish with 21 points. 

At half-time, Rathan-Mayes had a team-high 10 points and United were only denied the lead (Hawks were up 36-35) due to a buzzer beater from the Hawks’ Froling. Talk about teasing what was to come. 

Siva had five quick points to begin the second half, which helped the Hawks to establish a six-point lead and ask some tough questions of United. 

Siva continued to create opportunities too and his 11 assists were the catalyst for much of the Hawks’ offence. Siva was a cool head late too, and eventually finished with 13 points. Goulding, as is his way, got hot like a microwave and had 13 of his own by the time the match was done. 

The Hawks, can be proud of their efforts, despite the pain of another loss. 

Illawarra is next in action on Thursday night at home to the Adelaide 36ers.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 5

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 100 (Froling 27, Harvey 21, Siva 14)

MELBOURNE UNITED 106 (Rathan-Mayes 32, Humphries 20, Newley 13, Tucker 13) 

BOX SCORE