Reath claims Hawks' top NBL22 honour

Duop Reath capped his remarkable first season in the NBL, by taking out the Illawarra's Most Valuable Player award at Sunday's annual Hawks Ball.

The 25-year-old, who helped the Australian Boomers claim bronze at the Tokyo Olympic Games, averaged 15.57 points, 7.07 rebounds and 1.54 blocks per game in just 27.29 minutes - all while averaging 49 per cent from the field and 79 per cent from the charity stripe.

The second top award presented at the WIN Stadium's Victory Room on Sunday was the Defensive Player of the Year, which went to forward Antonius Cleveland.

During his 30 matches this season, Cleveland averaged 14.2 points, 6.36 rebounds, 2.32 assists, 1.93 steals and 1.18 blocks per contest.

Fresh off his Damian Martin Trophy for Defensive Player of the Year award and All-NBL First Team honours,  Cleveland also added another two prizes to his trophy cabinet on Sunday.

The Memphis product was voted the winner of both the Peoplecare Members' Choice Award and Player's Player for the 2021-22 campaign - to cap off an amazing first season in Australia.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">HawkHeads, your <a href="https://twitter.com/Peoplecare?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Peoplecare</a> Members’ Choice Award winner for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> is Antonius Cleveland ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TogetherWeFly?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TogetherWeFly</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreIllawarra?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreIllawarra</a> <a href="https://t.co/nbQTGd3fIX">pic.twitter.com/nbQTGd3fIX</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1523230407726366721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Joe Tertzakian, Illawarra's operations and events manager, was recognised for his incredible work ethic and commitment to the Hawks, during his first season in Wollongong, by scooping the Club Person of the Year gong.

The final major award presented was Illawarra's Community Award, which went to forward Daniel Grida, who played a pivotal role in helping tell this season's Pepper Money Real Life Stories.

The evening also saw Brian Goorjian (800 NBL games and 50 Hawks games), Emmett Naar (100 NBL games), Jessup (50 NBL games), Tyler Harvey (50 NBL games) and Isaac White (50 NBL games) recognised for personal milestones throughout the season.