The Illawarra Hawks have issued an ominous warning to the rest of the NBL by trouncing top-ranked Melbourne United 106-93 at John Cain Arena and replacing them at the top of the ladder.
A paralysing 59-35 rebound count was the key factor in Illawarra turning the first-versus-second blockbuster on Friday night into a lopsided rout.
The Hawks, who racked up 25 offensive boards, out-rebounded Melbourne 16-7, 14-6 and 18-6 across the first three quarters.
Skipper Tyler Harvey (31 points) and centre Sam Froling (20 points, 11 boards) led Illawarra's scoring.
"We wanted to stay aggressive on the boards and go inside," Hawks coach Justin Tatum said.
"Once they had some guys out, we wanted to exploit them inside and get their guys in foul trouble if possible and have other guys do things they're not used to doing."
Melbourne, who were without injured captain Chris Goulding (calf) and import Marcus Lee (back), were led by big Rob Loe (19 points) and sixth man Ian Clark (16).
Loe started with two triples in the opening minute and scored 12 of Melbourne's first 16 points, but United's poor rebounding paved the way for the Hawks to hold sway 27-24 at quarter-time.
Illawarra stretched their advantage to seven points in the second term before Clark knocked down two three-pointers in an 11-2 response which put Melbourne in front.
The Hawks' Trey Kell sat out the closing stages of the quarter after injuring his ankle in a tangle with teammate Lachlan Olbrich and then suffering a heavy high knock in a Jack White screen.
A frustrated Tatum earned a technical foul during that hectic phase.
United led 47-46 at half-time before Froling, who was well beaten early by Loe, burst to life in the third.
He chalked up 12 points and five rebounds for the quarter, masterminding an 18-3 spree which gave Illawarra complete control again.
Melbourne went on a 9-0 run either side of three-quarter-time to trim the gap to single digits before Harvey responded to the challenge by dominating again down the stretch.
United coach Dean Vickerman was highly critical of his side's lack of leadership, toughness and rebounding.
"As the game wore on, they were just smashing the o-boards and just driving us under," he said.
"I thought some of our leaders stopped tonight in different moments.
"(They) got caught on a screen, worried about a foul, got beaten in a rebound ... we were looking for excuses. Just toughen up.
"We were fortunate for it to be a 13-point margin - it felt like a 30-point margin to me."
