Sixers go three from three over Hawks

The Adelaide 36ers played some blistering basketball to open up a 25-point lead on the Illawarra Hawks but ended up just holding on to win 91-88 overcoming a career-best Sam Froling night and late Darius Days heroics.

Days had 13 points for the game but 11 of those were in the final three minutes and Froling put up 35 points and 13 rebounds. But the 36ers had 63 points in the first half and were still up 17 in the fourth, and held on to win by three with Tyler Harvey unable to get the Hawks to overtime.

As a team already playing with high energy and looking to bounce back from an overtime loss in Tasmania following big wins over Sydney and Melbourne, the 36ers had some added emotional motivation.

The Sixers retired the No. 21 of Daniel Johnson on the night while another jersey already in the rafters at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Darryl Pearce, was fresh on the mind having just sadly passed away.

Whatever the motion, the 36ers came out breathing fire having already beaten the Hawks twice in NBL25 and produced 33 points in the first quarter, 30 in the second and led by as much as 25 late in the first half.

Montrezl Harrell had 18 of those 63 points and DJ Vasiljevic 16 before Froling led the Hawks fightback with the first 11 points of the second half, but still the Sixers were up by 13 at three quarter-time and 17 early in the fourth.

The Hawks made things tense late but it's a big win for the Sixers as they improve to 10-12 to close in on a top six spot with Harrell finishing with 26 points, nine rebounds and three assists, and Kendric Davis 25 points, eight boards and seven assists.

Vasiljevic didn’t add to his 16 points with Jarell Martin putting up 16 points and nine rebounds.

"It's not like they (Illawarra) were going to come out in the second half and not play," 36ers coach Mike Wells said.

"We knew we were going to get a punch, maybe a couple of them.

"Would we have loved for it to look a little prettier in the second half? Sure, I guess.

"We did win the game - that's the ultimate goal."

The Hawks are still top at 15-8 but only just ahead of hosting Melbourne on Saturday with Froling delivering a career-best performance on 15/21 shooting.

Harvey finished with 15 points and six assists, Days 13 points and four rebounds, and Trey Kell III nine points, seven boards and five assists.

"Our group didn't play as well as we wanted to in the first half," Illawarra coach Justin Tatum said.

"Then we had a sense of urgency in the second half and played better."

The Hawks arrived desperate to make up for two losses already this season to the 36ers and they scored the opening six points with a three ball to Trey Kell III and then and-one to Sam Froling.

From there, though, the 36ers took control scoring 18 of the next 22 points including three-pointers to DJ Vasiljevic and Darius Days, and six points inside to Isaac Humphries.

Jarell Martin scored five quick points and the Sixers were out to a 14-point lead before Tyler Harvey cut it to eight on quarter-time with back-to-back three balls.

Adelaide went on another 8-0 run early in the second period to push the lead out to 16 points and then Montrezl Harrell took over proceedings.

He scored 10 of his 18 first half points in the space of a couple of minutes with Adelaide leading by 25 points and still being up 63-43 at half-time despite again giving up the last five points.

It was a hot first half from Adelaide going at 58 per cent shooting to Illawarra's 37 along with 15 free-throws to just the four.

The game underwent a complete transformation to start the second half with Illawarra coming out breathing fire to score the opening 11 points with Sam Froling scoring nine of those having already had 14 points in the opening half.

The Hawks clawed back as close as nine but the 36ers then started to respond after having just four points in the first six minutes of the quarter.

It was still 13 at three quarter-time before Adelaide pushed it back out to 17 early in the fourth starting with a triple from Martin.

With Froling having a career best night, the Hawks kept on coming and he willed his team back within seven with three minutes to play and then Darius Days had it back to just four.

It was the closest the Hawks had been since early in the first quarter but Harrell steadied them with a three-point play only for Days to keep on shooting. After having two points up to that point, he hit 11 quick points and it was a three-point game with 31 seconds to go.

In the end the Sixers had to survive a missed Harvey three that he's hit so many times before in the NBL to hold on and win by three.

The Sixers now head to Perth to play the Wildcats on their home return on Friday night while the Hawks host Melbourne United in a battle over top spot on Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

ADELAIDE 36ERS 91 (Harrell 26, Davis 25, Martin 16, Vasiljevic 16)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 88 (Froling 35, Harvey 15, Days 13)

BOX SCORE