The Illawarra Hawks celebrated the return of backcourt general Rhys Martin with a pulsating 102-87 defeat of competition leaders Melbourne United in Thursday night in Wollongong.
Illawarra's win is their third straight and earns them a share of fourth spot on the NBL ladder, while title favourites Melbourne have lost four of their past five.
Sidelined with a knee injury for his team's first 12 games, Martin played 21 minutes off the bench in his comeback, finishing with eight points and a team-high five assists.
"It's awesome to be back," Martin said.
"This is a great group. This is probably the best basketball we've played in a long time."
The Hawks were led by their big three of Kevin Lisch (26 points), Kirk Penney (25) and AJ Ogilvy (15).
Topping the scoring for Melbourne were Chris Goulding (25) and Daniel Kickert (21).
Fired up to avenge a round-one road loss to Melbourne, Illawarra were ahead 30-28 after the opening period and stretched the lead to 59-46 at halftime at WIN Entertainment Centre.
They were ahead by as many as 25 in the third quarter before Melbourne cut the deficit to four with three minutes remaining.
The Hawks hit key shots down the stretch to secure their seventh win of the season.
Melbourne (10-4) have a short turnaround before hosting Adelaide on Sunday and Illawarra (7-6) face home-and-away meetings with Cairns in round 10.
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