Hawks belt Phoenix to continue good signs under Tatum

Justin Tatum is mounting a case to remain the Illawarra Hawks coach next NBL season after a 100-72 belting of the shorthanded South East Melbourne Phoenix in Traralgon.

It was another painful defeat for the Phoenix coming off Thursday's 28-point Throwdown defeat at the hands of Melbourne United. They also lost captain Mitch Creek to a knee injury and with already having lost forward Craig Moller for the season with a knee injury, and having released import guard Will Cummings last week.

South East Melbourne did unveil new signing Abdel Nader, but missing three players who were starters only three weeks ago was tough to cover and the rejuvenated Hawks put them to the sword. 

Hawks guard Tyler Harvey had his best half of the season on Saturday, before big men Gary Clark and Sam Froling combined to blow the scoreline out in the third quarter.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Let him cook ?‍? <br><br>Tyler Harvey has ALREADY passed his season-high in the first half with 2?2? points ? <br><br>Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo ? <a href="https://t.co/6MNDUebN82">pic.twitter.com/6MNDUebN82</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1735922312241885659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Hawks have now won three of four games since firing Jacob Jackomas and installing his assistant Tatum as interim head coach. The one loss was a heartstopping one-point defeat in Brisbane too so it so easily could have been four from four.

They won only two of their first nine to begin the season, and before the win over the Phoenix had not beaten a team by 20 points since April 2022.

The Phoenix, meanwhile, have lost their two Round 11 games by a combined 56 points.

The latest defeat poses serious questions about their ability to score without Creek, who could miss as many as three more games with a knee injury.

The Phoenix's other elite scorer, Alan Williams, had 17 points and 12 rebounds against the Hawks, but when he went to the bench in the third quarter, Illawarra began to streak ahead.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Staring strong with Sauce and the roar of the Gippsland crowd ?<br><br>? ESPN ?? Kayo | Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/EJVOod5UWm">pic.twitter.com/EJVOod5UWm</a></p>&mdash; South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1735914176172986614?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Froling (16 points) and Clark (12 points, 13 rebounds) helped mastermind a 12-0 run that pushed the lead out to 17 points as the final minute of the third period approached.

When Justin Robinson hit a jumper and three-pointer in quick succession just after the final change, the lead was 22 and the Hawks were closing in on a win.

Earlier, Hawks guard Harvey had his best half in recent memory on his way to a season-best 25 points on a supremely efficient 10-of-15 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 from deep..

He amassed 22 first-half points - more than he had scored for an entire game this season - and helped erase Illawarra's five-point quarter-time deficit.

Harvey had to sit down midway through the second quarter in foul trouble and cooled off later as Phoenix import Gary Browne minimised his influence.

It was a rough night for Browne, though, who had six points, six rebounds and six assists on 1-of-12 shooting while Nader looked rusty as expected in his NBL debut, but showed encouraging signs with nine points and four rebounds in 16 and-a-half minutes.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 11

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 72 (Williams 17, Ayre 15, Te Rangi 11) 

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 100 (Harey 25, Froling 16, Robinson 14) 

BOX SCORE