It’s fast become the most intense rivalry in the NBL

It’s fast become the most intense rivalry in the NBL and Illawarra have snatched current bragging rights over Melbourne United, wrenching top spot on the ladder off their most recent finals nemesis with a 106-93 road win. 

It wasn’t just a win, it was a beatdown on a floor that held some demons for the Hawks having dropped two clashes at John Cain Arena in the playoffs last season - stretching a run of outs to United in Melbourne to five straight games. 

Plenty circled the round-12 clash on the calendar the minute United edged out the Hawks 92-87 in a spiteful clash in Wollongong in round six. That game was memorable for a late Chris Goulding flopping controversy and Justin Tatum’s frank take in the aftermath. 

Goulding wasn’t on the floor on Friday as he nursed a calf injury, but the game, and United, didn’t appear to suffer from his absence in the first half, the hosts leading 47-46 heading into the break. 

It looked every bit the finals contest to that point, until an explosion from skipper Sam Froling made the third quarter look like a training scrimmage for the visitors. Froling had 12 of his 20 points in the third on an 18-5 run that completely took the game away from the hosts. 

 Skippers combine in road carve-up 

With United big-man and defensive linchpin Marcus Lee unavailable, Froling was always going to be a focal point for the Hawks. It took them some time to find him, but when they did the 23-year-old showed he is one of the premier bigs in the league.

He was also a monster on the boards, with seven of his 11 rebounds coming on the offensive glass to go with two assists. The manner of the stat pile-up somehow managed to let co-captain Tyler Harvey go under the radar until a glance at the final boxscore revealed he’d finished with 31 points, seven rebounds and four assists. 

 It’s proof that, as a one-two punch, the Hawks captains are as good as any in the NBL when they’re both on. 

 “It's the beauty of having Tyler on this team, so much focus goes to him, Trey now [as well],” Froling said. 

“I think it was the first three minutes we didn't get some great shots. I said to Tyler ‘get me one, and yep [he threw it] straight in’. We’ve played together for five years now and it’s tough [to defend]. You’ve got to double him, which frees me up, or you double me in the post and it frees him up. That's the chemistry we’ve built over these years and, you add in the other pieces we have, it's just a tough cover.  

“A lot of those shots in the third quarter were going at [Rob] Loe, there was no help.  We’ve got shooters everywhere, they back their bigs in a one-on-one matchup, I back myself in that matchup, and it tends to work.”  

They were well assisted by handy contributions from Trey Kell, who had 12 points and six assists despite his time being limited after he was flattened by a Jack White screen late in the first half. Darius Days added what’s becoming a reliable 10 points and eight rebounds.  

 Hawks relishing board games 

 Talk about beating a team at their own game. 

 Yes, United were without Lee, but coach Dean Vickerman was rightly fuming after his team was pasted on the glass. United are the best rebounding team in the league this season, but the Hawks muscled their way to 25 offensive rebounds and 33 second-chance points. 

 Froling led that onslaught with seven o-boards, but Days (four), HJ Lee (4) and Mason Peatling (3) also got in on the act. It made a 7-26 night from three-point range little more than a blip on the radar.

 “We wanted to stay aggressive on the boards and going inside, and it looked like it panned out a little bit,” Tatum said.

“Once unfortunately [United] had some guys out, we wanted to exploit their inside and get their guys in foul trouble if possible, or have other guys do a lot of things that they're not used to doing.  

 “The focal point in the beginning of the game was to [go to Froling], but we wanted to make sure that our guards have opportunity to attack the paint too because Lee wasn't playing [so they] really didn’t have a shot-blocker presence.  

“When we saw that we had the ability to keep going inside, we told Sammy to find a way to work, if they double team find open guys. Anything in the half-court, we wanted to have the ball touch the paint.” 

Throwback to days of the ‘Road Warriors’ 

The Hawks first, and only, championship came with a road warriors mentality under Brendan Joyce – with his team boasting a better road record that season than they did at the Sandpit. 

Now 6-3 on the road this season, Tatum’s Hawks have a way to go to earn that distinction, but have now notched two of their most impressive wins of the season back to back in two of the toughest arenas for visiting teams in the competition. 

 It’s an impressive double, but Tatum was keeping things measured in the aftermath.  

“It's tough to play here,” Tatum said. “We’ve not had so much success since I've been the head coach here, but this is not playoffs, this is a regular season [win] for us to get better, so I don't really put it as a top-tier win. It’s just something to help us build as a group."

“It was good to see my team play well for four quarters and fight through adversity. I was happy how they trusted each other out there, happy with how they encouraged each other not to get caught up in anything and just worry about the game. I was really proud of the growth of my group.” 

 The Hawks are next in action against Perth in Wollongong on December 22.  Tickets are selling fast! Buy now