United Overpower Hawks in CG43's Game 400

The Illawarra Hawks threw the gauntlet right down to Melbourne United in a third straight strong NBL23 performance, but the home team responded for the crucial win on a milestone occasion for the 88-77 victory at John Cain Arena.

Melbourne came into Sunday's game knowing they needed to keep winning to stay in the playoff race and with their form building including a strong Throwdown win on Thursday night.

They had the added motivation of the 400th game for two-time championship winning captain Chris Goulding and the 300th NBL appearance of Brad Newley, and for much of the contest United had the measure of the Hawks.

However, Illawarra turned the game on its head scoring 13 consecutive points either side of three quarter-time to turn a nine-point deficit into a four-point lead and put the onus back on Melbourne.

It was Goulding who led the United fightback and with him hitting three triples, including one banked in, over the next several minutes, Melbourne went on a 19-5 scoring run to end up securing the important 11-point win.

The result improves Melbourne to an 8-11 record on the season to remain in playoff contention while Illawarra is 2-14 despite having strung three encouraging performances together now.

There was a massive rebound differential in favour of Melbourne 56 to 37 but still the Hawks attempted two more shots and 16 extra free-throws. United, though, shot 46 per cent to 36, and hit 11/27 from three opposed to 4/19.

It was a celebration afternoon for Goulding as he reached 400 NBL games and he delivered 25 points with six three-pointers. Newley also celebrated 300 NBL games either side of a remarkable career throughout Europe and had three points in his 11 minutes.

Mason Peatling was the other star for Melbourne with 19 points and 11 rebounds on 8/9 shooting with Isaac Humphries contributing 13 points and six boards, Rayjon Tucker 12 points, seven boards and five assists, and Marcus Lee 11 points and seven rebounds.

Goulding will reflect later about the milestone, but for now he's just happy for the win and to share the occasion with Newley.

"In the future it will be cool and we'll look at the photos and the videos from it, but my message all throughout this was that what I want is a win and I want Brad and his career to be celebrated," Newley said. 

"I think that was the main part of this day and that 300 number is not right for him, it could be pushing 1000 in that old body. I really wanted today to be for him and his kids and family that were here."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisGoulding43?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ChrisGoulding43</a> is cash from the corner in game 400 ?<br><br>Catch the second half of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live and free on 10 Peach and 10play | live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/3sssL02Djc">pic.twitter.com/3sssL02Djc</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1604370242888560641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Michael Frazier II top-scored for Illawarra with 27 points in another strong showing with Sam Froling adding 18 points and six rebounds, Mangok Mathiang eight points and five boards, and Tyler Harvey eight points and six rebounds despite shooting 3/17.

Hawks coach Jacob Jackomas is glad that his team is stringing more consistent performances together, but now they need to get over that hump and win.

"I just think it's the little things right now. Obviously we've had some games where we haven’t been in it and now the last three we've been in it, and it's about finding a way to win," Jackomas said.

"It was a quick turnaround for the last one and we had a quick look at that, and made a little bit of adjustment, but we don’t want to overcomplicate things right now with where we're at. 

"I thought we did a bad job on Chris. We found a way to keep him down a bit and I'll have to look at it to really criticise, but he had a hell of a game today so I'm not taking anything away from him. 

"I just thought he created not only his points alone but our attention to him wasn’t good enough where he got other guys open as well."

After a scoreless night on Thursday, Isaac Humphries hit the first five points of the game for Melbourne before Mason Peatling helped them a 9-5 edge. Chris Goulding then hit his first shot in game 400 to start a 5-0 run for the 14-7 lead.

A Deng Deng alley-oop pass to Mangok Mathiang settled the Hawks but United continued to hold sway with Shea Ili hitting an open three and then a perfect pass from Xavier Rathan-Mayes to set up a Marcus Lee dunk.

The Hawks did finish the first quarter on a high, though, with a three-point play to Dan Grida in just his second game of the season after a horror injury run.

Rayjon Tucker regained some of that explosive form from the Throwdown with five quick points to start the second quarter before Goulding nailed a three to put Melbourne up 13.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DENG DENGGGG!!! ?<br><br>Catch the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> action live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/lyytqoL3Mv">pic.twitter.com/lyytqoL3Mv</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1604352397546885120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Illawarra had to respond and that started to happen courtesy of Michael Frazier. He would score nine of his 14 points of the half in the second term to keep the Hawks in touch, but Melbourne still led 46-37 on the back of a career-best 13 opening half form Peatling topped off with a late three.

Sam Froling started the second half with a three ball but not long after Goulding hit a couple from long-range on his milestone occasion to keep Melbourne in control.

The Hawks weren’t going away, though, and eventually Tyler Harvey, Mathiang and Wani Swaka Lo Buluk combined for a 7-0 run to close the third quarter and close Melbourne's lead to two.

Illawarra turned that into a 13-0 run by hitting the first six points of the fourth in a stunning turnaround to lead by four after being down nine late in the third.

Melbourne need to respond not only for the milestone celebrations, but with a loss potentially fatal. Out of a timeout, Tucker and Lee both got to the foul line, then Ili took it to the rack and Goulding dropped a three.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mason Peatling has 18 points! <br><br>?: 10 Peach or ESPN via Foxtel or Kayo. <a href="https://t.co/tIoLmGYmnH">pic.twitter.com/tIoLmGYmnH</a></p>&mdash; Melbourne United (@MelbUnited) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited/status/1604378003483504640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The captain nailed another three to push Melbourne out to an eight-point lead and the dagger blow ultimately came from Peatling from downtown with United going on to win by 11.

Melbourne now moves into a hectic Christmas period at home to the Cairns Taipans on Friday and the playing in the first ever Christmas Day game in Sydney. The Hawks are on the road to the Tasmania JackJumpers next on Thursday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 11

MELBOURNE UNITED 88 (Goulding 25, Peatling 19, Humphries 13)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 77 (Frazier II 27, Froling 18, Harvey 8, Mathiang 8)

BOX SCORE