Isaac
Years ago
Funny Sixers overcome Hawks, move two clear
The Adelaide 36ERS have beaten the Wollongong Hawks 113-103 at the Distinctive Homes Dome to grab their sixth straight victory and hold a two win advantage over other teams on the Philips Championship ladder. While the 36ERS shot poorly from the field (37%), the difference came from free throws as the Hawks failed to adjust to the officiating and sent Adelaide to the charity stripe 56 times.
David Cooper scored 9 of his 13, and Jacob Holmes 10 of his 18 points from free throws. Two of Cooper's other points came from an early dunk as the Sixers took the lead at the opening and never gave it up. Adelaide saw scoring contributions from all players who hit the court in the opening period until Dusty Rychart picked up the pace in the second and added 11 to lead all scorers at the main break with 14.
Wollongong star Glen Saville was defended during the game by a mixture of Holmes and Oscar Forman, as the two 36ERS limited Saville to just 4 points on 1 of 6 shooting, and frustrated him into 6 fouls - one a technical. Forman saw his game-time limited by foul-trouble also (finishing with 5 for the game), but had 11 points and 7 rebounds as he continued his impact off the bench over the last fortnight.
After half-time, Adelaide made a small run to push the margin near 20 points. Up until that point, Adelaide posted a substantial half-time rebound count picking up boards at both ends of the court. Rychart had 15 for the game (including 10 offensive) and Holmes added 13. With many shots offline, Hawk Tony Rampton also enjoyed a big night on the boards, grabbing 21 to go with 22 points. His only consistent support came from the athletic Cortez Groves who scored 25 in the second half and drew scattered applause from an opposing crowd with a range of moves including a superb two-handed dunk en route to 30 points for the game.
Brett Maher played his usual Captain's hand, leading Adelaide with 23 points for the game, and adding 5 rebounds and 6 assists, while incurring only a single turnover. At half-time, Wollongong had held Willie Farley to only three points, and Maher to just 7, every other Adelaide player who made the court had contributed at least two baskets. In contrast the Hawks had only 5 points from Groves, 4 from Saville and 7 from Matt Campbell -- between the three of them, they had only two points at quarter-time.
Wollongong shot a better percentage from the field, behind the arc and from the line, but simply did not adapt to the officials' penchance for calling a soft game. In the final quarter, the Hawks rallied behind Groves, Campbell and import Adam Ballinger with a barrage of baskets, but Adelaide lifted to secure the win, with long bombs to Farley (17 points, 5 points, 5 assists) and free throws to Holmes.
The foul count (58 total) and number of trips to the stripe (84 in all) meant that this was not necessarily the most watchable game for fans, but a season-best turned out in Adelaide for the game, and the home team secured a positive result and extended their streak to six undefeated games.
With the result Adelaide moves to the top of the NBL ladder with 7 wins and a single loss, while Wollongong slips to 3 wins, 5 losses and 8th position. The 36ERs next travel to New Zealand for a game against the NZ Breakers.
Adelaide 36ERS 113 (Maher 23, Rychart 20, Holmes 18, Farley 17, Cooper 13, Forman 11, Hill 8, Rees 3)
Wollongong Hawks 103 (Groves 30, Rampton 22, Campbell 18, Ballinger 16)
