Hawks bigs shine in first-up win

The Illawarra Hawks have become the first team to hit the court for a pre-season game ahead of NBL25, with the front court pairing of Sam Froling and Lachlan Olbrich particularly impressive in the 101-88 win against the Shanghai Sharks.

The Hawks hosted the famous Chinese franchise at The Snakepit on Saturday night and there was a lot to like with what Justin Tatum's team delivered, as he prepares for his first full season as coach in the NBL.

The Australian front court duo of Froling and Olbrich were an undoubted shining light for Illawarra, combining for 39 points and 11 rebounds.

There was plenty more to be encouraged about as well from a Hawks perspective, with their full squad available aside from Hyunjung Lee and their final import signing to replace Gary Clark who has signed a deal overseas.

It was a high octane opening to the contest and Shanghai gave the Hawks plenty to think about once Darious Days hit the floor and knocked down five three-pointers for 17 first half points.

The Hawks still managed to lead 54-48 by half-time and then the longer the game went, the more the home team pulled away and a 21-point to 11 final term saw Illawarra come away with the 13-point victory.

Illawarra collected 13 offensive rebounds for 21 second chance points, while also having 52 points in the paint with the big man pairing instrumental in all of that.

Froling finished with 22 points and four boards on 10/14 shooting from the field while on the back of what he did in the NZ NBL at the Canterbury Rams, Olbrich put up 17 points and seven boards, five of which were offensive, on 7/9 shooting.

Tyler Harvey put up 18 points and five assists with 4/8 three-point shooting and he worked well with new backcourt partner Trey Kell III who had nine points and five rebounds.

On the back of his standout NBL1 East season at the Albury-Wodonga Bandits, Davo Hickey had 10 points, six rebounds and four assists too for the Hawks with Todd Blanchfield backing up a championship at the Mackay Meteors in the NBL1 North with eight points and seven boards.

Days finished with 22 points for the Sharks in his 22 minutes with Cheng Liu adding 17 points and Tianrong Li 15 points as they now head to Brisbane to play the Bullets on Friday night.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL PRE-SEASON GAME

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 101 (Froling 22, Harvey 18, Olbrich 17)
SHANGHAI SHARKS 88 (Days 22, Liu 17, Li 15)

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