Hawks beat Taipans in FNQ grind

The Cairns Taipans did a good job curtailing the scoring prowess of the Illawarra Hawks but the league-leaders still did enough to score the 87-75 NBL victory in Far North Queensland.

The Hawks arrived at the Cairns Convention Centre on top of the NBL and having put up 104 points a game, 12 more than anybody else, but the Taipans did well turning the contest into a grind without star young point guard Taran Armstrong and import centre Tanner Groves.

The Snakes scored 11 straight points early and were on top most of the first half with both teams struggling to find much fluency.

However, Tyler Harvey capped off a 7-0 run to close the half with a three on the buzzer to put the Hawks up 40-38 at the break.

It was anything but pretty in the first half with the teams combining to shoot 25/76 at 33 per cent overall, and just 6/32 from three at 19 per cent, but the Hawks were starting to warm up.

Harvey made another triple early in the third quarter too and the Hawks did lead by as much as seven, but the Taipans stuck with them with threes to Kyrin Galloway and Pedro Bradshaw.

The Hawks were up just one heading into the fourth and it was their front court pair of Sam Froling (10 points, seven rebounds, two blocks) and Lachlan Olbrich (10 points, five boards) who led them to the win.

After Darius Days fouled out after just 13 minutes for two points and six rebounds, the big men pairing combined for seven straight points to restore Illawarra's advantage as they won by 12 to maintain top spot at 5-2.

Harvey top-scored for the Hawks with 20 points with four rebounds and three assists. Fellow guard Trey Kell III only shot 4/15, but still had 14 points and seven assists with his team plus-22 with him out there.

Davo Hickey gave a spark once more with nine points, five assists and four rebounds while defensive menace Wani Swaka Lo Buluk did well holding Rob Edwards to 17 points on 5/16 shooting.

Hawks coach Justin Tatum was proud of the toughness his group showed to win a grind of a game.

"It came down to our toughness and we knew we were going to come here and get battle tested, and I was very impressed with how I was able to play both of my bigs down the stretch," he said.

"Defensively nothing dropped and we were able to get some consistent rebounds, and Trey and Tyler did their thing, and Davo and Swak were incredible on Edwards and Bradshaw.

"Just being able to extend the lead a little bit over the last three to five minutes was big for us."

The Taipans are now 3-4 having lost their last three having got 18 points, 14 rebounds and three assists from Bradshaw with Sam Waardenburg contributing 14 points, 10 boards sand four assists, and Akoldah Gak 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Cairns coach Adam Forde just lamented that his team couldn’t quite keep up their best work for 40 minutes.

"There was glimpses throughout different stages of the game where we sort of lost concentration but it really just came down to execution," he said.

"The momentum swung in Illawarra's favour and we got a little bit quiet in some areas, and that is the group because they are a rather quiet group.

"Credit to Illawarra, they just capitalised on that momentum and didn’t look back."

The Taipans might have been up against it taking on the league-leaders without Taran Armstrong and Tanner Groves, but nobody told them that and the Snakes went on an 11-0 scoring run to lead early 11-2.

Hawks coach Justin Tatum was forced into a timeout and he got the response he was after but Rob Edwards and Pedro Bradshaw combined for six late points to help Cairns to the 24-17 lead after one.

Scoring became tough for much of the second quarter and by half-time the Snakes were shooting at just 29 per cent and the Hawks at 35, but the last seven points to Illawarra that changed the complexion of the half.

Tyler Harvey capped it off with a three ball on the buzzer to see the Hawks walk into the break with momentum and the 40-38 advantage.

Illawarra did continue that momentum into the second half and when Wani Swaka Lo Buluk finished in transition, they had scored six straight points to be up seven.

The momentum swings continued with Cairns soon hitting eight straight points with triples to Bradshaw and Kyrin Galloway, and by three quarter-time things were delicately poised with the Hawks leading by just one.

Darius Days fouled out early in the fourth quarter, but that worked out well for Illawarra with Lachlan Olbrich joining Sam Froling, and they would combine for the next seven points in the game.

Harvey then hit a couple of daggers for the Hawks, Davo Hickey landed a three ball to stretch the lead to nine and Illawarra scored the 12-point win to maintain first place.

The Taipans head to Adelaide to play the 36ers on Friday night while the Hawks open up Round 6 on Thursday night hosting Melbourne United.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

CAIRNS TAIPANS 75 (Bradshaw 18, Edwards 17, Waardenburg 14)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 87 (Harvey 20, Kell III 14, Olbrich 10, Froling 10)

BOX SCORE