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Melbourne United have backed up their thrilling win in the west with a gritty win against the Illawarra Hawks at the Win Entertainment Centre 80-73.
Some stoic defence saw United keep the Hawks to just 73 points, their lowest total at home this season, while at the same time snap a seven game winning streak at home.
The win for United will see them take top seed into the playoffs, while Wollongong’s chances of cracking in to the top two were dealt a massive blow.
“This is a very difficult league to win on the road in for a lot of reasons, it’s a good win for us, it’s a building block just like any win is,” United coach Dean Demopoulos said.
“Defence is a team skill, it takes longer (in the season) for the defence to arrive than the offense; especially when you have a boatload full of really good offensive players.”
United’s Stephen Holt was once again top pointscorer with 23, scoring over half of them in the last quarter as the Melbourne finished strong.
It was the tight defensive display which was most impressive for the visitors forcing the Hawks to shoot 38 per cent and putting bodies on Kevin Lisch, who still was able to find 21 points.
Without the services of Kirk Penney, the Hawks offensive options seem to have hit a snag; especially outside the perimeter.
“I thought they (Melbourne) controlled the game pretty well, ultimately they were better than us tonight,” Hawks coach Rob Beveridge said.
“We were definitely better defensively, I think if we hit some of our open looks we would have taken a lot more pressure of ourselves, but there are some positive things to come out of that.”
The Hawks could only manage seven from 32 three-pointers, struggling while their ace shooter is on ice.
“When we don’t have him (Penney) it just means they can pay more attention to Lisch and Ogilvy and that’s what teams have done the last few games,” Beveridge said.
Both teams struggled to get into their grooves early on with only 35 points scored in the first quarter as Melbourne lead 19-16.
Once again three-pointers were hard to find for the home side hitting just two from 13 in the first half, Melbourne were not a lot better with just four from 14.
“We did have plenty of looks and we didn’t make it, we are the number one shooting team in the league and I expect our guys to take those looks, but unfortunately tonight we just didn’t make them,” Beveridge said.
Penney is still in doubt for the next game and Beveridge will give him every opportunity to play.
“He (Penney) knows his body better than anybody…if he thinks he can go, that means he is ready to go.”
Melbourne started to get the upper hand over Illawarra and held a well earned five-point lead at half-time, they seemed to have a lot more variety in attack and forced the Hawks into low percentage shots.
Their defensive strategy on Lisch was paying off in the first half, they kept the Hawks star to just eight points and limited his role in possession.
However their own superstar Holt had just nine and was just one from six from the perimeter.
In such a vital game there was always going to be a lot of feeling, especially after the controversy that surrounded their last meeting.
Tempers threatened to boil over when the Hawk’s “bearded bushranger” Larry Davidson fouled Melbourne’s Brad Hill hard as he went in for a layup.
United captain Daniel Kickert and Hawks captain Oscar Forman almost came to blows.
United lead from almost start to finish and had some strong performances from their bench.
“We’re very confident in our players, 1 through 12,” Demopoulos said.
“Nate Tomlinson, Brad (Hill) and Owen (Odigie) they did a phenomenal job tonight, coming in and playing within the structure and playing within themselves, not getting too caught up in the surroundings.”
Melbourne have one of the worst fourth quarter records in the NBL, winning just one in their past 22 games; however they were showing no signs of complacency as they got off to a hot start in the final quarter. They hit three-pointer after three-pointer to keep the Hawks at bay and close out the match, being only the second team to find victory at the Win Entertainment Centre.
The Hawks will host the out of contention Townsville Crocs on Saturday, followed by Adelaide next week, Melbourne have a home-and-away fixture against New Zealand to prepare them for the playoffs.
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