Hawks edge Kings in Freeway Series showdown

The Sydney Kings' unbeaten start to the NBL25 season is over, after losing a thrilling Freeway Series showdown to the Illawarra Hawks 96-89 on Sunday.

The result, played in front of 11,438 fans at Qudos Bank Arena, gives the Hawks a 1-nil lead in the Adrian Hurley Cup.

Match summary 

The Hawks raced out to an 8-0  lead early, forcing Kings coach Brian Goorjian to call a time-out. That drought on offence ended with a huge Alex Toohey slam, which was followed by a Xavier Cooks dunk. Despite this, Illawarra’s lead grew to 16-6 thanks to the strong play of Wani Swaka Lo Buluk. Three early fouls for Cam Oliver hurt the Kings, as the lead grew to double digits (24-12). A late three by Toohey closed the margin to 27-15 at the end of one quarter. 

The Hoops Capital side seemed reinvigorated in the second, starting the term on a 7-0 run, powered by Cooks and Toohey – as the margin reduced to 27-22. Another earmark of this was the improved intensity on defence. Scores by Bul Kuol, Keli Leaupepe and Makuach Maluach kept the scoreboard ticking over before a Jaylin Galloway triple tied it up at 36-all. Triples by Tyler Harvey and Darius Days put the visitors back in front but scores by Maluach and Oliver kept the hosts within striking distance. Another Maluach triple closed it to 48-47, which is how it stood at half-time. 

A Toohey triple after the resumption saw the harbour city side hit the lead for the first time (50-48), which was stretched by back-to-back buckets by Cooks. Efforts by Harvey and Days saw Illawarra regain the lead. Another huge dunk by Oliver, as well as a three-point play by Toohey stead the ship for Sydney on offence, but they couldn’t stop the Hawks’ scoring from Sam Froling and Trey Kell. The Hawks ended the term on a 7-2 run, to lead 75-67 at the final change. 

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Sydney opened the fourth on a 5-1 run, before Harvey and Adams traded shots from downtown. A corner three and steal by Kuol ensued. A three by Oliver made it 83-82 in the see-sawing affair. An And-one by Cooks helped Sydney re-gain the lead, as the two teams traded baskets. Cooks and Oliver did what they could of offence before Harvey nailed a huge triple to put Illawarra up by three heading into the final minute. A suspect foul call on Cooks allowed Harvey to stretch the Hawks’ lead to five with 25.9 to play. In the end, Illawarra ran out winners 96-89. 

Where the match was decided 

The Kings suffered their first defeat of NBL25 after losing the statistical categories three-point percentage (40-23), steals (10-5) and fast-break points (15-8).

Key moment  

Scores were tied (89-all) once Cooks completed a lay-up but that was the last basket by the hosts, as the Hawks ended the game on a 7-0 run to chalk up the win.

Player of the game 

In his first game back at Qudos Bank Arena since the NBL23 championships series, Cooks starred with a double-double (22 points and 12 rebounds) with five assists.

Toohey (16) and Oliver (15) were the only other two Kings to score in double-figures in the loss.

What’s next 

Goorjian’s team next heads to the Brisbane Entertainement Centre for a round three clash with the Bullets on Saturday, October 5. 

The Hoops Capital club’s next home game is on Sunday, October 13 at 2.15pm AEDT. 

Tickets to the round four Qudos Bank Arena clash are still available here.