Sam Froling and Darius Days have starred as the Illawarra Hawks posted a crushing 102-75 NBL victory over Cairns in their HoopsFest clash at Perth's HBF Stadium.
Froling was a dominant figure in the first half of Saturday night's match, before new import Days added the killer blows as the Hawks started the season in perfect fashion.
The Taipans were only two points behind after making a hot start to the third quarter, but Illawarra went on a 41-13 run after that to secure the easy victory.
Froling finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Days (20 points, 12 rebounds) was a force with a double-double.
The Hawks recovered from 2-7 last season to make the finals, but coach Justin Tatum wasn't happy with his team's lead-in to the current campaign.
Tatum was feeling far more content after watching his players not only see off the challenge from Cairns, but crush them.
"I told the guys in the locker room that I felt that we lost our spunk a little bit (during the pre-season) because we were so content," Tatum said.
"You know, we always found a way to get out the mud (last season), and in our practices and some of our exhibition games, we didn't have that same fire.
"So I wanted to make sure that we found a way to get it back, because at the end of the day, we always feel that we're the underdogs.
"We want to keep playing like it. We haven't done nothing yet."
Tanner Groves top-scored for Cairns with 19 points, but Rob Edwards (17 points) and Sam Waardenburg (13 points) were the only other Taipans players to hit double figures.
Cairns entered the match missing Kyle Adnam (knee), Taran Armstrong (calf) and Jackson Makoi (suspended), leaving them light-on in the point guard department and forcing them to call up injury replacement player Tad Dufelmeier.
Taipans coach Adam Forde didn't want to use that as an excuse.
"We're going to learn from this collectively and go, 'Hey, it's a four-point game with four minutes to go in the third, where did we lose this?'" Forde said.
"And a lot of it is also obviously Illawarra doing a great job with the rebounds.
"But a lot of it was some self-inflicted wounds where we probably just rushed it unnecessarily, especially on offence."
It was about the two Sams in the first half as Hawks big man Froling and Taipans skipper Waardenburg got to work with 13 points apiece.
Froling was a strong force in the first quarter, but he was a goliath in the second as the Hawks flexed their muscles.
The 24-year-old scored eight points for the term and pulled down three rebounds as the lead stretched out to 12 points.
A late three-pointer to Galloway got the margin back to nine points at half-time.
The Taipans made a big charge early in the third quarter to reduce the gap to two points, but it was back out to 12 by the final break.
The last quarter was a one-sided affair as the Hawks outscored their opponents 30-15.
The inaugural HoopsFest, a four-day festival of basketball, will conclude on Sunday with title favourites the Sydney Kings taking on Adelaide at RAC Arena.
