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The Illawarra Hawks have claimed a comprehensive win over the Townsville Crocodiles, winning at home by a huge margin of 38 points.
REPORT: HAWKS BLOW CROCS OUT OF WATER
Kirk Penney was the Hawks’ most prolific scorer, with 31 points to his name, while Brian Conklin was the best for the overwhelmed Crocs with 20 points and five rebounds.
Final score
Illawarra Hawks 108
Townsville Crocodiles 70
The Illawarra Hawks will look to continue their push towards the top four when they host the struggling, yet hard fighting Townsville Crocodiles at the WIN Entertainment Centre. Join The Roar for live scores from 7:15pm (AEDT).
Both teams have already played this week, with mixed fortunes. The Hawks had a six-point win over the Sydney Kings. It was an expected win, but none the less they had to work incredibly hard for it in a game that changed momentum multiple times.
As he has done a number of times this year, Kirk Penney led the Hawks to the victory, grabbing man of the match honours and sinking 24 points, along with eight assists. AJ Ogilvy and Oscar Forman also added plenty with the Hawks sinking 13 three-pointers during the game at 40 per cent, again proving that to be their biggest strength.
The win leaves the Hawks sitting only just outside the top four, with a record of five wins and six losses. As we approach the halfway point of the season, and with such a close middle of the table, it is making every game more and more important.
The Crocodiles meanwhile, again proved their worth. As the most inexperienced roster in the competition, who were expected to struggle big time they have had some incredibly good wins this season. Just a handful of days after beating Melbourne United in Melbourne, they came up against them again on Thursday Night at home.
The Crocodiles, after being down by double digits at one point managed to put in a brilliant performance to bring themselves back into the game, giving themselves a chance to win it at the end, but coming up short on the last possession, needing three to send it to overtime.
Clint Steindl dropped 25 points, including some massive clutch shots at the end of the game to give the Crocodiles a chance. Jordair Jett also led the way with 17 points and four assists.
Both of these sides like their three-point shooting, and at times develop what you could call an over-reliance on it. The Hawks, however, need to utilise their inside game to AJ Ogilvy, with the Crocodiles inside defence being weak this year. Like the Crocodiles, the Hawks defence has been less than impressive at times this year and this game could be a chance for last year’s MVP Brian Conklin to finally find some form.
Prediction: This NBL season has just about been impossible to predict in areas. The Crocodiles have caused some huge upsets, however with the strength of the Hawks shooting it is hard to see this one going that way.
Hawks by 10.
Join The Roar for live scores of the final match in round 8 from 7:15pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to leave a comment if you’re following along with the action.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde