Hungry Jack's NBL
White leads United to comeback win
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By Chris Pike for NBL.com.au
Lachlan Olbrich, Tyler Harvey and Darius Days all shone for the Illawarra Hawks but Melbourne United found a way to overpower them at the NBL Blitz led by Jack White for the 106-100 win.
The two teams are no stranger to playing cracking contests with one another including last year's playoff battle that went to three games, and it was no different on Thursday evening on the Gold Coast.
The Hawks were on top a lot of the game with Olbrich, Harvey and Days all scoring 22 points apiece, but United finished the better to claim the six-point victory before now turning their attention to the NBL25 opener.
Illawarra started well and six consecutive points for Lachlan Olbrich and then a triple on the buzzer to former Melbourne guard Zac Triplett saw them leading 31-25 after one.
Tyler Harvey then scored the first six points of the second term for the Hawks to be leading by 12 but United answered with a 17-2 run that included three balls to Tanner Krebs and Jack White.
That helped Melbourne to be leading 52-50 going into the half before Olbrich continued to star for Illawarra in the third term. He finished with a triple and another basket just before three quarter-time to help the Hawks lead by five.
Illawarra were then back out by seven with 3:45 to go thanks to a bucket to Darius Days, but Melbourne again fired back and four-time Olympian Matthew Dellavedova restored them to the lead with a minute to go.
From there United scored the four-point win for a second victory on the Gold Coast with Jack White top-scoring with 24 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals with Ian Clark scoring 14 points even with attempting just one three.
Dellavedova also had 14 points and four assists, Tanner Krebs 11 points and four rebounds, and Marcus Lee 10 points and four boards.
The Hawks finish the Blitz with a win and two losses but the signs especially from Lachlan Olbrich, Darius Days and Sam Froling continue to excite in the front court.
Olbrich finished with 22 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals with a perfect 9/9 shooting while new import Days had 22 points and 10 rebounds on 8/14 with Froling contributing 11 points and five assists.
Tyler Harvey also scored 22 points to go with four assists while Davo Hickey put up another 10 points and seven assists.
It's the last game at the Blitz for both teams with Melbourne now opening NBL25 in a Championship Series rematch with the Tasmania JackJumpers on Thursday night in Perth.
The Hawks are playing the Cairns Taipans to open their season next Saturday night.
HUNGRY JACK'S NBL BLITZ
MELBOURNE UNITED 106 (White 24, Clark 14, Dellavedova 14)
ILLAWARRA HAWKS 100 (Harvey 22, Olbrich 22, Days 22)
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