Hawks assistant coach Kaine Hokianga, who's taken the side to 12 wins and a place in the Sal's NBL playoffs, waiting for coach Jacob Chance's arrival from Australia. Photo / File
Hawks assistant coach Kaine Hokianga, who's taken the side to 12 wins and a place in the Sal's NBL playoffs, waiting for coach Jacob Chance's arrival from Australia. Photo / File
The Taylor Hawke's Bay Hawks have bolted into the Sal's NBL semifinals with a 100-74 win over Taranaki Mountainairs and a match to spare in the regular season.
The latest win came on Saturday on the home court at the Pettigrew Green Arena in Taradale, where the Hawks are setto complete a clean sweep of nine home wins when they play the Manawatu Jets at the PGA on Thursday, with big hopes of finishing second on the ladder going into the playoffs in Porirua on June 22-23.
The record includes wins at least once over all of the other nine teams in the league.
Devondrick Walker topped the Hawks score sheet on Saturday night with 20 points, with for treys, Hyrum Harris was good for 15, and Ethan Rusbatch and Jordan Hunt each shot 14 points, but Marcel Jones scored 24 for the visitors, also with four successes from outside the keyhole.
Taranaki competed well until it was 12-all in the fifth minutes, but 12 unanswered points put the Hawks in charge and they were never again headed, going to the end of the first quarter up 32-16, halftime 50-32, extended to 80-54, before a final quarter 20-all scoreline completed the game with a win by 26pts.
Simultaneously the Saints beat Manawatu 103-80 in Palmerston North, while Southland Sharks, also headed for the playoffs, beat neighbours Otago Nuggets 117-93 in Palmerston North on Friday night.
