Froling inspires Hawks to gritty win against Kings

The Illawarra Hawks have continued their recent dominance over arch-rivals Sydney by winning game two of the NBL22 Adrian Hurley Cup series 97-89 on Thursday.

Leading the way at the WIN Entertainment Centre was big man Sam Froling, who scored a career-high 27 points, to go with nine rebounds, two steals and one assist.

The Townsville product was well supported by point guard Tyler Harvey, who hit six of his seven triples, to finish with 23 points.

Rounding out Harvey’s impressive stat line was six assists, five rebounds and two steals.

Others to score in double-figures for the hosts were guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes (16 points, seven rebounds, three assists and one steal) and Antonius Cleveland (11 points, five rebounds, four blocks, one steal and one assist).

Sydney’s standout in the loss was Jarrell Martin, who finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds and one block.

Joining Martin in the double-figures for the Kings were Wani Swaka Lo Buluk (17 points), Xavier Cooks (16) and Jaylen Adams (14) in his return match.

The Hawks' first-quarter worries continued, as the Kings scored the first 11 points of the match before Cleveland stemmed the flow with five straight for the hosts.

Brian Goorjian’s troops then bounced back with a coast-to-coast from Sam Froling and back-to-back three-pointers from Harvey - ending his first-quarter scoring drought.

The Hawks continued their strong finish to the first period, ending it on a 9-2, to go into the break up 28-22 - their first quarter-time lead all season.

Much like the opening term, the visitors, despite losing import RJ Hunter to a leg injury, started the second the stronger - scoring 14 of the first 16 points, forcing Goorjian to call a time-out.

Two straight triples by Harvey and Justinian Jessup reduced the margin, before a scoring outburst by Sam Froling, including a vicious dunk and two shots from downtown, helped the Hawks regain the lead - which they held at half-time 49-48 (representing both team’s highest score at the break in NBL22).

The Hawks snapped out of their early quarter funk in the third by nailing three straight shots from downtown through Sam Froling, Jessup and Harvey.

Kings forward Cooks then inspired his team's fightback - ending the term on an 8-0, to lead 78-75 going into the final period.

The Hawks didn’t give up though, led by young big man Sam Froling - whose Illawarra side outscored their Freeway Series rivals 18-6 through the opening 7.26 of the fourth quarter.

A clutch lay-up by Xavier Rather-Mayes and floater by Harvey helped withstand a late push by the visitors, as the hosts ran out winners 97-89.

The Hawks, who move to 4-1 on the season, next face Melbourne United on Sunday, January 16 from 1pm AEDT at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

Tickets for the ‘Festival of Hoops’ clash are available via Ticketmaster.