The Illawarra Hawks have taken a major step towards securing a NBL semi-final berth after knocking off ladder leaders Melbourne United 92-77 to win their sixth game in their past seven starts.
The Hawks closed the first half of Sunday's contest at John Cain Arena with 12 unanswered points to grasp control of the game, going on to lead by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter.
Import Antonius Cleveland continues to emerge as an offensive focal point by pacing the Hawks with 20 points while Tyler Harvey (19) and Duop Reath (15) played pivotal roles in the win.
While Illawarra remain in fourth spot on the ladder, they join Sydney and Perth on 14 wins for the season, though the Kings have one game in hand, and move two wins clear of trailing clubs South East Melbourne and Tasmania.
Despite coach Brian Goorjian missing the first game of his 24-season, 795-game coaching career due to COVID, the Hawks still managed to maintain the momentum that has resulted in eight wins in the last ten games.
Assistant coach Jacob Jackomas took charge of the Hawks in Goorjian's absence and praised the squad for their effort despite a disjointed build-up.
"When they found out that he wasn't going to be there, they really stepped it up and really decided to move this season on just for this one game, unfortunately, without him," Jackomas said.
"All I needed to do was just sort of jump around on the sideline and give them their schemes."
The Hawks showed they were up for the challenge of tackling the defending champions by drilling three triples in a run of 11 straight points to close the first quarter with a 25-19 buffer.
Illawarra surged again with a 12-0 run in the final four minutes of the second period to jump ahead 46-35 at halftime with their defence forcing 11 first-half turnovers from United, including eight steals and six blocks, and outscoring Melbourne 15-2 on fast-break points.
"There are some things that you can't do against the Hawks and one of them is to turn the ball over," coach Dean Vickerman said after his side were unable to mark Chris Goulding's 200th game for United with a victory.
"I thought their hand pressure, their length and the deflections that they created, and our inability to move the basketball the way we wanted to, created a lot of fast-break opportunities for them."
Melbourne (15-6) retain top spot despite the loss and expect Japanese import and 2020/21 championship winner Yudai Baba to make his return to the club in time for next Saturday's rematch with the Hawks.
