Cleveland leads Hawks to Huge Turnaround on JackJumpers

For just about the first 15 minutes the Tasmania JackJumpers had the measure of the Illawarra Hawks again, but with Antonius Cleveland delivering at both ends, he helped his team dominate the rest of the way for Saturday night's crucial 91-65 win.

The two teams in a battle for a spot in the top four locked horns at The Silverdome in Launceston and it was the JackJumpers who started on fire on the back of already having beaten the Hawks twice this season.

Tasmania knocked down eight of their first 12 three-pointers for the game with captain Clint Steindl hitting four of those as they opened up a 32-21 advantage.

However, from that point Illawarra was able to turn the game in dramatic fashion and they dominated the rest of the evening. It started with 13 straight points which turned into a 23-3 run and an eight-point lead at half-time.

Illawarra then scored the first five points of the second half and at one point they had outscored the JackJumpers 43-12 after Tasmania led 32-21. All up, the Hawks outscored their opponents 70 points to 33 the rest of the way to win by 26.

Antonius Cleveland was instrumental in everything for Illawarra finishing with 22 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals to go with a plus-minus of 24 even if his celebrations post-match did ruffle the feathers of JackJumpers coach Scott Roth.

Justinian Jessup also had 17 points for Illawarra, Duop Reath 16 to go with 11 rebounds, Tim Coenraad nine points and six boards, Xavier Rathan-Mayes eight points, five rebounds and three assists, and Tyler Harvey eight points and five rebounds.

It was a proud Hawks coach Brian Goorjian afterwards with how his team played from midway through the second quarter on.

"It's been coming and the areas that are of concern from us I think this team (Tasmania) does better than other team in the league," Goorjian said.

"They offensive rebound, they crash the class, they move the ball and they make you have to guard in the halfcourt. That's been our weakness and they've exposed it twice, and tonight the game started the same way. 

"Once we got on point though, we were on the mark and the plays they made were tough ones, and the things they do really well like moving the ball, cutting, rebounding and physicality and playing with heart, we hadn’t matched it. 

"But tonight we did and with the talent that we have, if we do that we're going to have a good performance and tonight was probably all the way around our best team effort."

Josh Adams finished with 21 points for Tasmania with captain Clint Steindl adding 17 points on 5/8 shooting from beyond the arc. Jack McVeigh also had 10 points and seven rebounds.

JackJumpers coach Scott Roth was philosophical about the result afterwards.

"Credit to them, they really just got after us and physically just manhandled us in a lot of areas," Roth said.

"We missed a lot of assignments that we usually are pretty much on point with, and once their shooters starting seeing their ball go through the net it opens up a lot of other things. 

"I think it's a really good learning experience for our group and if you want to get into the playoffs and play playoff style basketball, that was a great example of a physical game, and they were the much more physical and dominant team. 

"I thought they did an outstanding job of owning the floor on both ends of the court. I'm still very, very excited about what lies for us and to beat that team twice and win the series from them is a great credit to our group. We just flip the page and move on to the next one."

The JackJumpers have enjoyed life against the Hawks in their first two meetings and they started impressively again on Saturday night in Launceston. Matt Kenyon was the hot man early hitting a couple of threes for the 8-3 start.

Josh Adams joined in the fun to push the advantage out to 15-7 soon after. Captain Clint Steindl hit the floor and caught fire like only he can in the NBL. He dropped three triples in no time and Tasmania led 26-17 by quarter-time.

Steindl nailed his fourth three to open the second quarter as well and then when Sam McDaniel joined the party, Tasmania had gone 8/12 from three-point range already in the game and led 32-21.

However, it sparked the Hawks into gear and they scored the next 13 points which included their own makes from downtown by Tyler Harvey and then two from Justinian Jessup.

Jack McVeigh briefly steadied Tasmania with an and-one, but Illawarra had turned up the gas and scored another 10 points in-a-row including three-point plays from Antonius Cleveland and Jessup, and a three ball from Tim Coenraad.

Coenraad added another three in between a couple of from Adams to break the drought for the JackJumpers, but Xavier Rathan-Mayes scored on the buzzer for the Hawks to give them the 49-41 edge.

Both teams were on fire from beyond the arc with the Hawks hitting 7/13 and the JackJumpers 10/18 of which 7/10 came from Adams and Steindl but the home team only managed 4/16 as a team inside the arc.

The Hawks' momentum carried into the second half when they scored the opening five points to go up 13. Cleveland then carried on with a three-point play, another bucket in transition and then an and-one for Sam Froling pushed the advantage out to 20.

Illawarra kept going too throughout the fourth quarter outscoring the JackJumpers 20 points to 12 to take away the 26-point victory.

The JackJumpers now head to Perth to take on the Wildcats at RAC Arena on Thursday. Last time they were there earlier in the season they might have lost, but they played in front of the biggest crowd ever in the stadium.

The Hawks have until Sunday before playing Melbourne United in another monster clash at John Cain Arena.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 16

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 65 (Adams 21, Steindl 17, McVeigh 10)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 91 (Cleveland 22, Jessup 17, Reath 16) 

BOX SCORE