Illawarra's shooters didn't give South East Melbourne much time to enjoy its fast start on Wednesday night. The Hawks poured in 71 first-half points at the State Basketball Centre and held on for a 120–110 Round 9 win, with Kelan Martin and Milton Doyle combining for 49 points and 11 three-pointers. It was Illawarra's fifth win of NBL27, lifting the Hawks to 5–9 and leaving the Phoenix at 4–8 after a third straight defeat. The scoreline was close enough to suggest a contest late; the damage was done much earlier.
The Phoenix opened with eight unanswered points, but the Hawks answered with an extraordinary stretch of shot-making. From that moment to half-time, Illawarra outscored the hosts 71–46. The second quarter was particularly punishing: 43 Hawks points on 15-of-19 field-goal shooting, four made threes from six attempts and a perfect nine free throws. By the main break, South East Melbourne trailed 71–54 despite having started the night exactly as it would've wanted. The NBL's match report records the remarkable shooting numbers behind that swing.
Martin and Doyle were the clearest beneficiaries of the space Illawarra created. Martin finished with 27 points, including five threes from seven attempts; Doyle added 22 points and hit six of seven from deep. That's 11 makes from 14 attempts between two players, a level of accuracy that punished every slow close-out and late rotation. The Phoenix couldn't simply load up on one scorer without exposing themselves to the other. Illawarra's passing and early decisions made South East Melbourne's defence chase the ball rather than dictate where it went.
Davo Hickey was just as important to the shape of the win. His 15 points, nine rebounds and eight assists gave the Hawks a second route to productive possessions when the defence tried to chase the shooters. Makur Maker supplied 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Sam Froling contributed nine points and five boards from the bench. That spread matters: the Hawks didn't need a succession of isolated jumpers to keep scoring. They had guards who could find the next pass and bigs who could keep the offence connected.
South East Melbourne still scored 110 points, which makes the defensive failure all the more glaring. D'Shawn Schwartz led the hosts with 22 points and eight rebounds, Nathan Sobey added 19 points and nine assists, and Dash Daniels scored 17. But there was no way to trade baskets back into control while Illawarra was shooting 56 per cent from the field. The Hawks also made 13 of 32 threes overall. The Phoenix won the third quarter 27–24 and the fourth 29–25, earning two Ignite Cup quarter points, yet they never erased the deficit created by that first-half avalanche.
There's a practical lesson here for both clubs. Illawarra's previous outing ended in a 106–78 defeat at Adelaide, so this was a response built on offensive execution rather than just a hot individual night. The Hawks' official schedule confirms the result and their next assignment: another away game against Perth on Saturday, 14 November. Four straight road fixtures have demanded resilience from a side still chasing consistency, and this performance showed how much more dangerous its attack looks when several players can create and finish.
For the Phoenix, the timing is uncomfortable. The pre-game outlook had already identified a team leaning heavily on its outside shooting and needing a stronger all-round response. After parting ways with import guard Skylar Mays, they now have a defensive problem that scoring alone won't solve. Conceding 71 in a half puts too much strain on any attack, even one capable of reaching 110. Saturday's Throwdown against Melbourne United offers another immediate test of whether South East Melbourne can get stops before the scoreboard gets away from it.
The Hawks leave Melbourne with the win and a clear blueprint: quick decisions, multiple creators and enough movement to free their shooters. The Phoenix leave with two Ignite Cup quarter points but no league victory. When a team gives up 43 points in one quarter, winning the next two is recovery work, not control. Illawarra owned the part of the game that mattered most.
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