Illawarra coach Rob Beveridge didn't mince words after the Hawks secured a finals berth with a lucky 104-97 overtime victory over the Townsville Crocodiles at WIN Entertainment Centre.
Staring down the barrel of a shock loss on their home court on Saturday when they trailed by four in the extra period, the Hawks outscored the Crocs 11-0 over the final two minutes to post their 16th win of the NBL season.
But Beveridge admitted he was more relieved than pleased with his teams spotty performance a fortnight out from the playoffs.
"We were pretty lucky," he said.
"Townsville had us, but it was amazing character of our group to not give in. We made some critical stops and made some big shots. It was the great escape."
That it was, not once but twice.
Despite leading at every change, the Hawks fell behind by nine with just under three minutes left in the final quarter.
Illawarra connected on three consecutive three-point bombs to tie the game at 89-all and held their nerve when they had to play catch-up again in overtime.
But despite hitting 15/31 threes as a team, the Hawks were bullied under the boards, grabbing just 23 rebounds to the Crocs 46, a sore point for Beveridge.
"We got pumped under the boards and our defence went back to being really horrible in certain parts," he said.
"We got out of jail, but I look at it as a very special moment for our club to go from last place last year to making the playoffs, and I'm very proud of that for the club and for these guys."
The Hawks appeared to underestimate the Crocs early in the game, but Beveridge insisted that wasn't the case.
"Absolutely no way in the world did we take them lightly," he said.
"Townsville have evolved into a very good team and we had an enormous amount of respect for that."
Highlighting Illawarra's win was forward Kirk Penney's successful return from a four-game injury layoff. Penney made 10 of 16 shots and finished with 28 points.
"It was great to be out there again playing," the 35-year-old said.
"For so much of the game it felt like a Townsville-style game and we were being sucked into it, so it was pretty rewarding to pull it out in the end."
The Hawks wrap up the regular season with next Friday's home game against Adelaide and are assured of a top-four finish regardless of final-round results.
Seventh-placed Townsville (9-17) finish their 2015-16 campaign with next week's home games against Cairns (Thursday) and Sydney (Saturday).
"It's devastating," Crocs coach Shawn Dennis said of the narrow loss.
"That's a game we should've won in regulation. Right now we've got some people that don't understand that little errors add up and hurt you."
The New Zealand Breakers host the Cairns Taipans today in Auckland to complete round 18.
