Star guards shine as Hawks take Game 1

Derrick Walton Jr's spectacular first half put the South East Melbourne Phoenix in a strong position but the Illawarra Hawks back court of Tyler Harvey and Trey Kell III was brilliant in 101-94 NBL Playoffs Game 1 win.

The Playoff Series got underway at WIN Entertainment Centre on Friday night and while Walton was outstanding for the Phoenix especially in the first half in his first game since January 11, Harvey and Kell have been the best NBL back court all season.

The pair were named to the All-First Team and showed why in Game 1 combining for 48 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists with 7/16 three-point shooting including Harvey going on a stunning burst in the third quarter to turn the game in Illawarra's favour.

After the Hawks went into quarter-time leading 31-27, the Phoenix delivered a blistering second quarter led by Walton in his return game.

He had seven points and nine assists to the half and South East Melbourne put up 34 points in that second period while shooting 13/18 from the floor and 4/6 from deep while having nine assists and 10 fast break points.

They still had all the momentum when leading by 11 but then the Hawks responded with the next 21 points with 12 of those from Harvey.

Illawarra scored 32 points in the third quarter on 11/21 shooting with 5/9 from deep and scored the seven-point win to be one win from a first Championship Series appearance since 2017.

The Hawks ended up with 20 second chance points from 15 offensive rebounds while sticking to their remarkable season average with another 100-plus point game and only six turnovers.

Kell finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and five assists with his back court partner Harvey adding 24 points, four boards and three assists.

Todd Blanchfield chimed in with 16 points and six rebounds on 4/9 three-point shooting with Darius Days struggling on his return with just 4:30 of court time and the Hawks outscored by eight points with him out there.

Walton ended up with 15 points and 11 assists for South East Melbourne with Joe Wieskamp top-scoring with 22 points to go with seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Nathan Sobey contributed 17 points and nine rebounds while Matt Hurt had only six shot attempts for 10 points and Next Star Malique Lewis had three blocks to go with three points and four rebounds.

The Hawks might have not played for 21 days, but started well with an 8-2 opening firstly with Sam Froling scoring inside and then three balls to Mason Peatling and Wani Swaka Lo Buluk.

South East Melbourne have answered every challenge all season and did so again with the next eight points starting with triples to Jordan Hunter and Joe Wieskamp.

It was an up-tempo opening the rest of the first quarter but when 434-game veteran Todd Blanchfield landed a couple of three balls, the Hawks ended up leading 31-27 by the end of one on the back of hitting six triples and having 10 assists.

It didn’t take long for the Phoenix to find themselves back on top in the second quarter as they opened up with three balls to Malique Lewis, Wieskamp and Nathan Sobey.

South East Melbourne were able to score eight straight points later in the second quarter with Derrick Walton Jr taking complete control of the contest in his first game since January 11.

Not only did he score all seven of his first half points in the final minutes, but he kept on finding his teammates with nine assists to half-time including a spectacular set up on the buzzer for a Wieskamp throwdown.

That saw the Phoenix put up 34 points for that second quarter to go into half-time leading 61-54 and with all the momentum having closed the half on a 14-3 run.

Wieskamp then scored the first four points of the second half to go to 17 himself and to give the Phoenix an 11-point lead, but then it was Tyler Harvey time.

The Hawks co-captain hit three quick three-pointers and then converted another three-point play on the trademark floater. Those 12 points from him were part of a 21-0 run that turned that 11-point deficit into a 10-point lead.

Illawarra were able to convert that into an 86-73 lead by three quarter-time on the back of putting up 32 points and holding the Phoenix to just 12 after their 34 in the second frame.

While South East Melbourne did keep things interesting in the fourth quarter, they could never quite get closer than six points with the Hawks closing the deal on the seven-point win.

Game 2 will be on Sunday afternoon at John Cain Arena with the Phoenix attempting to keep their season alive with a Game 3 back in Wollongong on Wednesday or the Hawks will move straight into the Championship Series.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL PLAYOFFS 2025 – GAME 1

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 101 (Kell III 24, Harvey 24, Blanchfield 16)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 94 (Wieskamp 22, Sobey 17, Walton Jr 15)

Illawarra Hawks lead best-of-3 series 1-0

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