The Illawarra Hawks have held their nerve in crunch time against a relentless Adelaide 36ers to claim a crucial 104-97 NBL victory in Wollongong.
Illawarra outscored the 36ers 31-27 in Thursday night's fourth quarter at WIN Entertainment Centre, securing their 11th victory in their past 14 games and snapping Adelaide's six-game win streak.
Playing without high-scoring forward Kirk Penney, the Hawks avenged a 12-point road loss to the Sixers in round seven, boosting their record to 15-9 and keeping hold of third spot.
Fourth-placed Adelaide (13-10) will be hell-bent on making amends when they host Illawarra on Saturday night.
Kevin Lisch scored a team-high 27 points for the Hawks, AJ Ogilvy added 21 and Rhys Martin had 17 off the bench.
Sixers dynamo Jerome Randle poured in a game-high 28 points, Ebi Ere had 23 and Daniel Johnson finished with 12.
The Hawks overcame a poor shooting night (7/32 three-pointers) to eventually wear down the Sixers, winning the rebound battle 34-30 and finishing with 11 turnovers to Adelaide's 17.
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