It was a game of dramatic first-half swings but the Illawarra Hawks had too many scoring weapons in the second half as they beat Brisbane Bullets 113-101 in their NBL clash in Wollongong.
The Hawks piled on 38 points in the first quarter on Friday night at the WIN Entertainment Centre, but the Bullets responded with 35 in the second to be leading at the half-time break.
Illawarra were better able to keep their scoring going as they won on the back of 30 points, four rebounds and three assists from Trey Kell III in his first home game with the Hawks.
"I never had any doubt that my team was going to bounce back and figure out how to put the pressure back on Brisbane," Hawks coach Justin Tatum said.
"It was just exciting to be back out there in front of our fans again and hearing them cheer, and that Illawarra chant so it was good to be back out there."
Both teams opened their seasons in Perth last Saturday with the Hawks big winners and a comeback just falling short for the Bullets, and the trend continued to start Friday's match up.
It was a stunning first quarter from the Hawks, based on 71 per cent shooting, with Kell having 16 points as they forced the Bullets into seven turnovers.
It was the worst possible start from Brisbane, but they still scored 25 points in the opening term so they just needed to tidy up defensively.
The Bullets gave the response coach Justin Schueller was after by holding the Hawks to 21 points as they piled on 35 themselves to remarkably be leading by one at half-time, with 15 points to import wing Keandre Cook (17 points, three steals).
But Illawarra used a 16-4 run either side of three quarter-time to open up a 15-point lead as they went on to win.
For the Hawks, Sam Froling finished with 16 points and five rebounds, Hyunjung Lee had 15 points on 4-of-5 three-point shooting, Darius Days added 13 points on 3-of-3 from deep, and Tyler Harvey had 11 points, four boards, three assists and two steals.
The Bullets have concerns over captain Mitch Norton who appeared to injure a groin after having 12 points and three assists.
Tyrell Harrison finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Bullets, former Hawks player Deng Adel had 14 points, and Isaac White added 12 points and five assists.
"There's a lot of pride in the way that we've responded twice now to say that we're right there but that's the frustration part, getting jumped and giving up 38 in a quarter," said Schueller.
"That's not who we want to be and we put enough points on the board to win a game, but we give up 113 and it's not who we want to be."
