Hawks prevail in Christmas night cracker

It was a Christmas night top-of-the-table NBL contest with both teams having their time in charge before the Illawarra Hawks withstood a late Sydney Kings challenge to further consolidate top spot winning 111-108.

The Kings were at home in front of 8589 fans at Qudos Bank Arena trying to topple the league-leading Hawks, and led by as much as 10 during the second quarter.

The Hawks took charge to lead by 14 with six minutes to play before the Kings responded with the next 13 points.

Illawarra responded and a Trey Kell III three was crucial in the three-point win with the Kings unable to force overtime at the buzzer.

The Kings got the better of the start leading 31-23 following a first quarter seeing a combined 27 free throws.

Next Star Alex Toohey already had 20 points to his name midway through the second quarter with Sydney up by 10, but Kell and Tyler Harvey combined for 26 points after going scoreless in the opening 10 minutes.

Scores were all square at 58-58 by half-time with tempers flaring during the first half and then even on the way to the locker room with Kings import Cam Oliver and Hawks captain Sam Froling needing to be separated.

The Kings opened the second half with a 9-2 run to lead again by seven, but the Hawks got rolling and by three quarter-time they had taken charge to be up seven.

Illawarra dominated the early part of the fourth quarter too with the lead out to 14 but the Kings fired back with a 13-0 run with Toohey and Keli Leaulepe at the forefront.

Sydney had a possession of five offensive rebounds but couldn’t score to go ahead and Kell led Illawarra's response as they improve to 12-5 in top spot with six straight triple-figure scores.

Kell finished with 26 points, eight assists and six rebounds with Harvey adding 22 points and four assists, Froling 14 points and six rebounds, and Davo Hickey 12 points and five assists.

Hawks coach Justin Tatum felt it was a statement result.

"It was a game that showed us our grit and we feel like if we want to become a championship calibre team then this is the type of game we need to win," he said.

"That was mainly through having played a couple of nights before and we had to show that resilience, and we had to fight through a lot of things to become a championship team, and we did pretty well."

The Kings slip from second position at 11-8 with the loss despite a career-best 25 points, four rebounds and three steals from Next Star Toohey.

Leaulepe added 14 points and 12 rebounds while Kouat Noi stepped up with 24 points and nine boards, Jaylen Adams 18 points and seven assists, and Xavier Cooks 11 points, nine rebounds and six dimes.

Kings coach Brian Goorjian liked some of what he saw, but thinks he needs more help for Adams.

"We can throw punches with the best and the concern is that we're just missing a piece in the back court," he said.

"When we take Jaylen off the ball to get him some rest, that has become a concern and it's three times now with a minute to go and they win with the guard play of Tyler Harvey and (Trey) Kell.

"We still haven’t gotten over the hump there and we've been exposed when we've played them so it's back to the drawing board."

It was basket for basket early on and four men Mason Peatling and Keli Leaulepe even traded three balls before a lot of the opening period became a free-throw shooting contest.

Sydney ended up going 13/14 from the line and Illawarra 10/13 in the opening 10 minutes but it was the Kings who finished off on a 6-2 run and Next Star Alex Toohey already had 11 points with the home team leading 31-23 after one.

After a scoreless opening quarter, Tyler Harvey had 10 points with three triples in no time in the second term but it was Toohey on his way to a career-best night for the Kings and he already had 20 points to his name halfway through the period.

That helped Sydney to the 10-point advantage as well but the Hawks dominated the last five minutes of the half beginning with a 7-0 run before Harvey and Trey Kell III closed out the half with three-pointers.

They went scoreless in the first quarter, but combined for 26 in the second as the Hawks piled on 34 to end up tying scores up at 58-58 with the Kings at half-time after a first half featuring 37 free throws.

Sydney came out hot to start the second half again with Izayah Le'afa and Leaulepe hitting threes as part of them opening up a seven-point lead once more, but the Hawks answered with their own 13-5 run to grab the lead.

They were able to turn that into a six-point lead later in the third quarter and by three quarter-time it was seven having been down seven just minutes earlier with another 30-point quarter.

The Hawks then scored the first six points of the fourth term to go up 13, and then that was 14 after Lachlan Olbrich scored with six minutes to play.

There was one more twist to come with the 13-0 run from Sydney to set up the thrilling finish where the Hawks won on a game decided at the buzzer with Noi's missed three at the buzzer denying Sydney to force overtime.

The Hawks have the quick turnaround to taking on the firing Brisbane Bullets on the road on Friday night while the Kings are next in action on Monday when they play host to the spluttering Adelaide 36ers.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

SYDNEY KINGS 108 (Toohey 25, Noi 24, Adams 18)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 111 (Kell III 26, Harvey 22, Froling 14)

BOX SCORE