All signs pointed to an ugly night for South East Melbourne Phoenix, and the Illawarra Hawks confirmed it as they continued their stunning NBL turnaround with a 116-78 home win.
The Phoenix came into Friday's match at WIN Entertainment Centre missing three of their most important players: gun centre Alan Williams, star point guard Gary Browne, and new import Abdel Nader.
That trio took 44.7 points, 20.5 rebounds and 8.7 assists a game out with them, with the Phoenix already without the injured Craig Moller and axed import guard Will Cummings (a combined 20.7 points, 8.5 boards and 3.2 assists).
The Hawks were in a hole themselves only seven games ago when sitting on a 2-7 record and they had to take care of business.
They did that, with the 38-point margin the biggest loss in South East Melbourne's short history.
The Hawks have now won six of eight games since Justin Tatum replaced Jacob Jackomas as coach.
By the end of the first quarter, the Hawks had already opened up a 24-15 lead, with Justin Robinson (19 points) scoring on the buzzer.
Robinson then scored the first seven points of the second quarter to push the lead out to 16.
Illawarra were up 53-36 at the half, even with Tyler Harvey (seven) taking just two shots and scoring three points.
Gary Clark (16 points, 13 rebounds, four assists) opened the second half with five quick points for the Hawks to ensure the home team remained on top.
The Phoenix simply didn’t have the talent to seriously threaten, with the Hawks leading by as much as 41 before winning by 38 on 62 per cent field goal shooting, with 12-of-21 from downtown.
Sam Froling dominated inside with 20 points despite just 2-of-7 free-throw shooting, with Lachlan Olbrich in support with 11 points and six rebounds.
Hyunjung Lee hit three triples for 15 points, with Next Star AJ Johnson adding 11.
Tatum was pleased the Hawks kept the pressure on the Phoenix.
"Our goal is to keep moving on up the ladder and keep finding ways to better ourselves as a group," he said.
"Those guys are starting to believe more every day and our confidence is just building through the roof when we can translate what we're doing in practice in games."
The Phoenix missed their first 12 three-point attempts before development player Luke Rosendale knocked one down.
Captain Mitch Creek delivered 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists, with Kody Stattmann adding 11 points and Ben Ayre 10.
"They were good, we were bad and I think every time you step out there, whether it's training or a game, you have to find something you can get better at," coach Mike Kelly said.
"We will sweep it eventually, but we need to look at it first, as painful as it will be to watch it again, so we can try to take something out of it."
