Illawarra turned a frantic shootout into a 107–95 road win over Cairns on Thursday, 5 November, by doing something the Taipans couldn't: keeping their offence alive after half-time. The Hawks trailed 62–61 at the main break, then held Cairns to 33 second-half points to claim consecutive victories for the first time in NBL27. The decisive sequence came late, when a two-point game became an 11-point lead in barely three minutes.
Cairns had made eight of its first 10 three-point attempts and led 35–32 at quarter-time. Jack McVeigh and Keanu Pinder gave the home side enough scoring to keep that narrow advantage at the break, but the outside shooting cooled dramatically. The Taipans made only five of their next 24 attempts from deep, including none of eight in the final quarter. Their 13 fourth-quarter points were a sharp contrast to the 35 they had poured in during the first. The NBL's match report captures how quickly that early scoring rhythm disappeared.
Makur Maker was the Hawks' anchor. He scored 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked two shots, finishing plus-19 in 31 minutes. He'd already scored 18 by half-time, keeping Illawarra in touch while Cairns was making almost everything from outside. The important contribution wasn't just his points. Maker gave the Hawks a reliable option inside when the game slowed, and his late block on Pinder stopped Cairns from turning another close-range chance into momentum.
Illawarra also found a different answer from the perimeter. Tyler Harvey hit five of eight threes in his 19 points, Milton Doyle scored 18, and Kelan Martin supplied 19 from the bench. Martin's seven fourth-quarter points mattered most. With Pinder's dunk cutting the margin to 93–91 at 6:32 remaining, the Hawks struck for nine unanswered points: Martin hit a three and a jumper, Davo Hickey attacked the rim, and Harvey added a floater. The Hawks' own game recap details that run and Maker's rim protection.
The shooting contrast explains why the Hawks could win despite Cairns producing 26 assists to Illawarra's 15. The visitors converted 39 of 65 shots, a 60 per cent clip, and made 27 of 38 two-point attempts. Cairns needed 74 attempts to make 34 baskets. A team can move the ball beautifully and still lose if the final shot stops falling; the Hawks were more efficient at finishing the opportunities they created. Their 38 bench points, against Cairns' 20, also gave them another scoring route when the starters needed help.
Pinder's 21 points and eight rebounds and McVeigh's 20 points and seven assists weren't empty contributions. Cairns built a genuine first-half edge through their combination of inside finishing and outside shooting. But the late drought showed how vulnerable that attack became when the first option was contained. The Hawks' closing defence forced Cairns to work harder for clean looks, while Illawarra's mix of Maker inside and Martin, Harvey and Hickey around him prevented the visitors from becoming predictable.
The result briefly gave Illawarra a second straight away win, although the Hawks then lost 106–78 in Adelaide on Saturday. Cairns, meanwhile, answered the setback with a 100–92 win in Perth on Sunday. Those contrasting follow-ups, recorded in the Hawks' fixture results and Taipans' fixture results, put the Cairns game in perspective. For Illawarra, Maker's interior scoring and a productive bench offer a practical route to more wins. The challenge is sustaining that quality across a full round, not just during one devastating closing stretch.
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