THEIR Indigenous Round proved a raging success but Illawarra fell short on the floor on Sunday, going down 83-68 to Sydney.
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One of the biggest crowds in recent memory flocked the the WEC but it was left silent as the Kings shot the lights out from deep, dropping 15 triples from at 48 per cent from long range.
The Hawks went just 2-7 in response and shot at lowly 37 per cent from the field in a low-scoring affair.
Sydney were coming off a thrilling one-point win over Perth on Friday but led at all breaks in their fourth straight victory.
Kevin Lisch led the way with 16 points, including four threes, while Brad Newley had nine of his 13 points from deep to go with six rebounds. David Wear carried the confidence from his match-winner on Friday night with 13 points, while Daniel Kickert was also went 3-3 from the perimeter in his 11 points.
After an off-night against the Wildcats on Friday, Andrew Bogut produced a quick bounce back with 10 points and 15 rebounds.
Kings coach Andrew Gaze expressed surprised at the amount of looks his side got from deep, with Hawks coach Rob Beveridge admitting his side was poor on the perimeter
“I can absolutely assure you we did not want to give up threes,” Hawks coach Rob Beveridge said
“I think they’re leading the league at the moment from the three-point line. They’re too good a team, they’ve got way too much talent, way too much experience.
“When you’ve got Lisch, Newley, Kickert out there, that’s what they do, they knock down open shots.
“We gave up too many open shots, they can shoot the ball exceptionally well and they have done for the last few weeks.
“The tempo we should’ve played at wasn’t there and we played them in the half-court where they’re way to good for us.”
Todd Blanchfield had three of his side’s four triples in his 12 points but Jordair Jett (12 points) was the only other Hawk in double figures.
Beveridge said they didn’t do enough to get the ball in their sharpshooter’s hands.
“[Blanchfield’s] one of the best shooters in the league… we have to get him more than seven shots for the game, simple as that,” he said.
The loss squandered a chance to climb into the top four and sends them on a virtual must-win road-trip across the Tasman to take on New Zealand on Friday.
Newley and AJ Ogilvy traded baskets early before Wear and Randle dropped back to back threes to shoot out to a 10-4 lead.
The hosts quickly pegged it back when Ogilvy drained two from the line and Blanchfield chimed in with his first triple to cut the margin back to one.
The Kings had another mini-buffer on the back of a tip-in from Bogut and three from Kickert, forcing Beveridge into a timeout.
It had the desired effect with Jett exploding off he bench with six quick points, including a fast-break slam, though a three from Kyle Adnam gave the visitors a one-point lead at the first break.
The Kings looked sluggish out of the break, with the Hawks starting a 7-0 run, including an and-one from Grida, that forced Gaze to call time.
They quickly drew level after back-to-back threes to Wear and Lisch, though Conklin had four straight to re-take the lead. Kevin White had a quick step-back on a 6-0 run that forced Gaze into his second timeout.
It jump-started his side, with Lisch grabbing two more threes on a 12-2 run as his side re-took the lead, 36-33 at the main break.
Lisch continued his hot run from downtown to start the third and his teammates followed suit, with Wear grabbing a triple and Newley dropping two for the biggest lead of the match at 54-43.
Blanchfield stemmed the flow with just his side’s second three, but two o-board buckets to Brian Bowen saw the lead swell to double figures.
Grida got one back on his fellow rookie, breezing past him for a lay-up before Naar went two of two from the line to cut the deficit back to eight at the final break.
Kickert opene the fourth with consecutive threes as the lead ballooned to 14. Grida and Naar begged it back to single digits, the latter with a pull-up three.
It was ultimately as close as they got, with Lisch and Newley closing the show in what was ultimately a dismal night for the hosts.