Hawks star Derone Raukawa, pictured playing the home match against Southland Sharks in May, got the ball rolling on Sunday with the first five points in the return-match win in Invercargill. Photo / NZME
Hawks star Derone Raukawa, pictured playing the home match against Southland Sharks in May, got the ball rolling on Sunday with the first five points in the return-match win in Invercargill. Photo / NZME
The Taylor Hawke's Bay Hawks all but sealed a Sal's National Basketball League playoff berth with a 26-points drubbing of fellow top-four hopefuls the Southland Sharks in Invercargill on Sunday night.
The Hawks won 97-71, posting the highest-scoring first quarter of the season to lead 37-18 at the end ofthe first 10 minutes, and were never seriously threatened thereafter.
It was 63-35 at halftime, and the Hawks appeared to take the boots off the pedal in the second half, the Sharks taking the third quarter 17-15 and the last to the buzzer being tied 19-19.
It gave the Hawks a 1-1 result from the two games in the south in less than 24 hours, having been beaten 94-88 on Saturday night in Dunedin by the Otago Nuggets, also still a playoffs hope.
It also gave the Hawks a 2-0 record against the Sharks this season, having won 85-73 in Napier in May, but also ended the weekend with the Hawks' record of 11 wins and five losses putting the side in second place with just two home games against the bottom two sides, Taranaki Mountainairs on Saturday, July 10, and Manawatu Jets on July 15.
Hawkey is set to return to action for the Hawks' home games this weekend. Photo / Photosport
The Wellington Saints, with a Sunday-Wednesday-Friday sequence of wins over the Hawks in Wellington and away against Nelson Giants and Taranaki, have 12 wins from 14 matches, and are now the warm favourite to top the regular-season table going into the top-four playoffs in Porirua on July 22-23.
The Sharks were pre-match favourites on Sunday night, given the home advantage and the Hawks being at the end of one of the tougher trips in the league.
With Derone Raukawa opening with two from the free-throw line and his first three-pointer, followed by a two-points jump shot from Hyrum Harris, the Hawks were quickly in charge, going from 7-4 to 24-4, with Hyrum Harris, Ethan Rusbatch, Rhys Vague, Devonrick Walker, and Jarrod Kenny all also on the board.
But ultimately, it was Jordan Hunt off the bench who top-scored for the Hawks with 21 points, although the game high was the 27 points for the Sharks' Dom Kelman-Poto.
On Saturday night, the Hawks started well against the Nuggets, once up by four points in the first quarter before it ended at 21-21. They were up 30-28 in the second quarter when the Nuggets made the biggest move, 12 points without response from the visitors and going to halftime up 48-36.
The visitors did not see the lead again, although they did level at 83-83 with 4min 30sec left on the clock.
Walker topped the Hawks' haul with 23, but the real danger man was the Nuggets' Isaiah Moss with 31 points. Each had five three-pointers.
Despite being among the favourites to win the league, the Hawks have won the title just once (2006), compared with the 11 won by the Saints since 1984, 10 by Auckland area franchises now represented by fourth-placed Huskies, three won by Southland, and Otago's sole triumph, in last year's Auckland-based Showcase, which was missing both the Saints and the Sharks.
