Bruce's heroics secures Kings thrilling win over Hawks

For the second time in as many games at Qudos Bank Arena, the Sydney Kings have hit a game-winner to secure victory. 

This time it was guard Shaun Bruce who hit a three-pointer as time expired to secure the host an 83-82 win against the Illawarra Hawks on Sunday. 

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The win, in front of 11, 032 fans, see the Kings take a 2-nil lead in NBL23’s Adrian Hurley Cup. 

Match summary 

Five quick points by Tyler Harvey saw the visitors jump out to a 7-5 lead but instant impact off the bench by Kouat Noi gave the Kings a 14-9 advantage. Fellow substitute Angus Glover, Shaun Bruce and Jordi Hunter all made strong plays in the dying moments of the first period, to ensure the Hoops Capital side led by six (25-19) at the first change. 

Slick passing and shooting by Tim Soares and Jaylin Galloway, who replaced the injured Xavier Cooks in the starting line-up, extended the host’s lead to nine midway through term two. Strong play by Sam Froling reduced that to four with 2.27 left to play before a Will Hickey triple made it a one-point game. But free-throws at the death by Derrick Walton Jr gave the harbour city side a three-point advantage (42-39) at half-time. 

Early buckets by Dejan Vasiljevic helped extend that lead to seven before an 8-0 run, capped by a Harvey free-throw, gave the visitors the lead 50-49. That was short-lived as former Hawks Justin Simon and Glover sparked the purple and gold to seven unanswered points – to give Chase Buford’s reigning champions the 65-56 lead heading into the fourth. 

That advantage was quickly reduced by the hot shooting of Harvey – bringing the margin to within two. Another shot from down by Harvey put the Hawks up before Noi and Tim Soares restored the host’s advantage. With 3.20 to play, Illawarra went up by four after a Froling slam. The two NSW sides traded baskets late on but a clutch floater by Harvey and free-throws by Tim Coenraad gave Illawarra a two-point lead in the dying stages. This laid the platform for Bruce to hit the game-winner and notch the club’s eighth triumph of NBL23. 

Where the match was decided 

In the one-point affair, the statistics were close across the board but the main differences were the Kings’ superiority from the line (72 per cent to 57), assists (20-15), bench points (36-22) and fast-break points (10-2). 

Key moment 

Hard to go past Bruce’s big shot to secure the Kings their eighth win of NBL23 – which mimics Noi’s heroics in the last game at Qudos Bank Arena against Cairns. 

Player of the game 

In the absence of Cooks, point guard Walton stepped up to the tune of 12 points, seven assists, three rebounds and two steals in the win. 

Another standout was Glover, who scored a season-high 13 points, to go with five boards and four dimes. 

What’s next 

Buford’s side will now hit the road and travel to Cairns on Monday, where they’ll play the red-hot Taipans, who are third with a 6-3 record, at the Cairns Convention Centre from 7.30pm on Monday, November 28. 

The round eight clash will give the first-placed Kings, who sport an 8-2 record, the chance to extend their NBL away win record to 18 games.