Hawks showcase firepower to beat Bullets

It was a game of dramatic swings in the first half before the Illawarra Hawks had too many weapons in the second to stay unbeaten to open the NBL season beating the Brisbane Bullets 113-101.

The Hawks piled on 38 points in the first quarter on Friday night at the WIN Entertainment Centre, but the Bullets responded with 35 in the second to be leading at the half-time break.

Illawarra were better able to keep that scoring going to end up winning by 12 on the back of 30 points, four rebounds and three assists from Trey Kell III in a first home game with the Hawks.

Sam Froling finished with 16 points and five rebounds for the Hawks along with Hyunjung Lee 15 on 4/5 three-point shooting, Darius Days 13 points on 3/3 from deep, and Tyler Harvey 11 points, four boards, three assists and two steals.

Hawks coach Justin Tatum was pleased especially with the second half response.

"It was stressful a little bit especially the last couple of minutes of the second quarter, but I never had any doubt that my team was going to bounce back and figure out how to put the pressure back on Brisbane," he said.

"It was just exciting to be back out there in front of our fans again and hearing them cheer, and that Illawarra chant so it was good to be back out there."

The Bullets have concerns over captain Mitch Norton who appeared to injure a groin after having 12 points and three assists.

Keandre Cook top-scored with 17 points with 3/4 three-point shooting while Tyrell Harrison finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and former Hawks Deng Adel 14 points, and Isaac White 12 points and five assists.

Bullets coach Justin Schueller again didn’t like the start, but felt it was a step forward.

"The way we came out wasn’t what we were expecting in the way that we had attacked the whole week, and we thought we had identified who we needed to be and what we needed to be," Schueller said.

"There's a lot of pride in the way that we've responded twice now to say that we're right there but that's the frustration part getting jumped and giving up 38 in a quarter.

"That's not who we want to be and we put enough points on the board to win a game, but we give up 113 and it's not who we want to be."

It was a flying start for the Hawks in front of their home fans for the first time since last season's series battle with Melbourne United as they hit the game's first five points, and then with Sam Froling dominating with eight quick points, they were up 13-4.

It was eerily similar to last week's horror start for Brisbane with Illawarra doing as they pleased offensively taking advantage of the seven first quarter turnovers from the Bullets.

Hyunjung Lee knocked down a couple of three-pointers and they had 26 points on the board in seven minutes, and went into quarter-time leading 38-25.

Trey Kell III had 16 of those points for the Hawks as they shot 71 per cent from the floor but the Bullets had done enough offensively to stay in touch if they picked up their defence.

That's exactly what happened in the second quarter with Brisbane holding Illawarra to 21 points and then piling on 35 themselves including separate 11-0 and 7-0 runs to stunningly be leading at half-time 60-59.

Keandre Cook and Mitch Norton combined for 5/5 from downtown and 27 points between them to help the Bullets to that lead at the break while they also had just one turnover in the second period.

It was shot for shot in a lot of the third quarter but late triples for the Hawks to Lee and Tyler Harvey saw the home team back up nine by three quarter-time.

Illawarra then hit the first four points of the fourth quarter to open up a 15-point lead once more on the way to the eventual 12-point win.

The Hawks now head to Sydney to play the Kings in a mouthwatering match up on Sunday while the Bullets also take on the Kings in their home opener next Friday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 113 (Kell III 30, Froling 16, Lee 15)

BRISBANE BULLETS 101 (Cook 17, Harrison 16, Adel 14)

BOX SCORE