Hawks Thrashed by Phoenix

South East Melbourne Phoenix proved too strong for the Illawarra Hawks on Sunday, winning 112-78.

The Hawks welcomed Michael Frazier II into their line-up as the replacement for George King and Peyton Siva was back to run the ship, and they fought hard to stay in touch of the Phoenix in the first half at John Cain Arena.

The Hawks had been competitive but the Phoenix blew them away in the last five minutes of the third quarter and again it was Williams leading the charge down low.

The Phoenix finished up shooting 56 per cent from the floor while hitting 10/20 from three-point land and 26/34 at the charity stripe while winning the rebound battle 42 to 32 and forcing the Hawks into 16 turnovers. They also had 50 points in the paint to 36.

It was a tough night for the Hawks the longer the game went but they would be encouraged by Frazier's first up performance with 17 points on 7/13 shooting including 3/6 from three-point territory.

Tyler Harvey scored 17 points with Peyton Siva adding 10 to go with three assists. Sam Froling had nine points and seven rebounds.

South East Melbourne opened up with the game's first five points but the Hawks worked their way back into the contest beginning with a triple from new signing Michael Frazier II.

A couple of impressive finishes from Deng Deng then saw Illawarra's lead grow to 12-6 with Simon Mitchell wanting to talk things over with his Phoenix team.

Alan Williams was a force the Hawks had no answer for down low and he made a host of buckets in the early stages of the second quarter with South East Melbourne's lead growing to 15 before another three-pointer for Illawarra from Frazier.

The Hawks started the fourth quarter promisingly and got back to nine with Peyton Siva hitting a three ball, but the dominance of Creek and Williams proved to be an obstacle they just couldn’t overcome.

The Hawks have until next Monday night to play again when they are at home to Melbourne United.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 8

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 112 (Creek 27, Kell 24, Williams 21)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 78 (Frazier 17, Harvey 17, Siva 10) 

BOX SCORE