Hawks clinch second NBL championship

With Will Hickey turning himself into a Wollongong hero for life, the Illawarra Hawks proved too strong in Game 5 of the Championship Series beating Melbourne United 114-104 to become two-time NBL champions.

The road team had won all four of the games in the series before Sunday's decider, but the Hawks refused to be denied in front of a raucous home crowd at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

It was a record crowd of 5686 in the venue too and even without their co-captain and starting centre Sam Froling, who ruptured an achilles in Game 4, the energy of the Hawks was too much as they secured the win and the championship.

It's the second championship for the Hawks and a first since 2001 as they backed up a season of finishing in top spot for the first ever time with the title to cap it off.

Their energy and hustle was too much for Melbourne. That was all led by Hickey who capped it off with another 21 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists on 9/14 shooting in Game 5.

While Matthew Dellavedova was officially named Series MVP, he himself presented the Larry Sengstock Trophy to Hickey when he got on stage.

Trey Kell III was back for Illawarra and provided 26 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists with Tyler Harvey adding 16 points and seven boards, Wani Swaka Lo Buluk 16 points, and Lachlan Olbrich 12 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Illawarra has also been the best offensive rebounding team all season and that was on show with 18 o-boards for 13 second chance points along with 64 points in the paint.

Melbourne did attempt 45 free throws opposed to 23 from the Hawks but couldn’t find an offensive groove going just 41 per cent from the field and 14/36 from downtown.

Dellavedova had a standout series but struggled in Game 5 with five points and seven assists on 2/6 shooting while Chris Goulding went 3/12 from downtown for 21 points.

Shea Ili returned for Melbourne with 20 points, six assists and four steals with Jack White contributing 17 points and seven rebounds, and Ian Clark 15 points and four boards.

The deciding Game 5 saw Melbourne open up on the road with three balls to Ian Clark and Jack White before Davo Hickey continued his stunning series with eight of Illawarra's opening 10 points.

However, United had the early momentum to be leading 20-10 after six minutes but the Hawks responded by closing out the opening period on a 16-6 run including massive three-point bombs off the bench from Todd Blanchfield and Hyunjung Lee.

Hickey had 12 points and three offensive rebounds on his own in that first period. Illawarra kept the momentum going with six straight points early in the second frame to lead by five.

Melbourne answered with triples to Rob Loe and Chris Goulding, but the Hawks were just finding it far easier to score particularly by attacking the basket.

Wani Swaka Lo Buluk not only was doing a tremendous defensive job on Goulding but also scored 12 points in that second quarter with Illawarra having things on their terms to be leading 60-50 at the break on the back of shooting 54 per cent to Melbourne's 42.

United had got to the foul line 21 times to stay within touching distance but Goulding and Matthew Dellavedova had combined for just seven points on 3/11 shooting at the half.

Melbourne were always going to come out fired up in the second half and managed an 8-0 scoring run early in the third quarter, but the Hawks had the answers.

United couldn’t get back any closer than six points in that third quarter and by three quarter-time Illawarra was still on top by 10.

Melbourne did get back within five early in the fourth but the Hawks kept on having the answers and Trey Kell III and Tyler Harvey pushed the advantage back out to 10.

There would be no Melbourne fightback from there and the 'Gong was celebrating like never before with their second NBL championship having been banging down the door ever since 2001.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES 2025 – GAME 5

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 114 (Kell III 26, Hickey 21, Swaka Lo Buluk 16, Harvey 16)

MELBOURNE UNITED 104 (Goulding 21, Ili 20, White 17)

Illawarra Hawks win best-of-5 series 3-2

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