Olbrich, Harvey fire Hawks to Blitz win

Tyler Harvey lit it up and the big men combination of Sam Froling and Lachlan Olbrich again starred as the Illawarra Hawks opened their NBL Blitz on the Gold Coast beating the South East Melbourne Phoenix 112-93.

The Australian front court pairing of Olbrich and Froling are emerging as a great strength of the Hawks for NBL25 after another 32 points and nine rebounds between them on Sunday afternoon.

Then with Harvey hitting four threes and Davo Hickey continuing his career-best form over the past 12 months with a game high 20 points, the Hawks put up 112 points in an impressive first up showing at the Blitz against the Phoenix.

The Hawks were playing against an NBL opponent for the first time this pre-season with their lone hit out against the Shanghai Sharks, and they were without the injured Daniel Grida with new import Darius Days not yet available.

The Phoenix had already taken on the Brisbane Bullets and Melbourne United with a full roster available and they unveiled a brand new starting five made up of Jordan Hunter, Matt Hurt, Joe Wieskamp, Nathan Sobey and Derrick Walton Jr.

Lachlan Olbrich started in emphatic fashion with a one-handed jam on the back of his MVP season in the NZ NBL before Tyler Harvey dropped three bombs from downtown in the space of a minute.

That set the tone for the high-scoring first half from both teams and by the time the teams went back to the locker room at the break, it was the Hawks leading 62-54.

They were shooting 51 per cent from the floor and 7/14 from deep while the Phoenix were going at 55 per cent overall despite 1/9 from downtown with 14 points and six assists for Walton Jr.

On the back of 38 points in the second quarter, the Hawks put up another 27 to 23 in the third period and they ended up pulling away for the 19-point win to open the Blitz in style.

There was a lot to like for Illawarra with Davo Hickey fresh off the breakout NBL24 season and then a standout campaign in the NBL1 East at the Albury-Wodonga Bandits top-scoring with 20 points and four assists.

Tyler Harvey went 4/8 from deep for 18 points along with four assists with Trey Kell III looking good too with 14 points and four rebounds with Hyunjung Lee contributing 11 points, five boards, three assists and two steals.

Then there's the big men duo of Sam Froling (15 points, four rebounds) and Lachlan Olbrich (17 points, five boards, three steals, two assists) who continue to excite.

The first half from Derrick Walton Jr was encouraging for the Phoenix as was the performance of Matt Hurt with 16 points and four rebounds while Nathan Sobey top-scored with 16 points to go with five assists.

The Hawks are next in action on Tuesday night against the Perth Wildcats with the Phoenix next up on Wednesday against the Sydney Kings.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL BLITZ

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 112 (Hickey 20, Harvey 18, Olbrich 17)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 93 (Hurt 16, Sobey 16, Walton Jr 14)

BOX SCORE