Adelaide Defeats Woollongong in thier first game at Home

The Adelaide 36ers defeated the Wollongong Hawks on Saturday night of round 2 97-91. Adelaides imports played a great game with gary Ervin finishing with 24 points and 5 assists and Jarryd Frye with 15 points and 7 rebounds for this first game with the 36ers. The First quarter was a shoot out with both teams hitting some big shots. Gary Ervin went 4 from 4 from long range for the 36ers and Larry Davidson went 3 from 3 for the Hawks and they had a decent lead of 6, 11-17 half way through the first. Wollongong Hawks new import Kevin Tiggs looks to be great fit into the team and made it look easy at times finishing with 14 points. The hawks held onto a great offensive quarter and held onto a the 6 point lead at the end of the first quarter 25-31.

The adelaide 36ers played some great defence to slow down the Hawks and Jarryd Frye showed how deadly he was in open court as he went coast to coast. Gary Ervin this season has really controlled the tempo of the first two games with some excellent team leadership and great shooting. At the end of the First half the Hawks managed to hold onto the lead 53-49. At the end of the first Ervin was on 15 points and Tiggs at 12. The 3rd quarter grinded out with the strong offensive effort we saw in the first slowing down for a more structured play. With the lead shanging sides several times in the 3rd Gary Erving looks like he enjoys playing under Joey as he gives him 5 after taking directions in a break in the game followed by a perfectly run play to get an open Adam Gibson for a 3. At the end of the quarter Jason Cadee got a fast break and takes to the hole but gets fouled hard by Tyson Demos and it gets called an unsportsmanlike foul. This is the tipping point in the game as a 3 points game 69-72 breaks out to 8 points in the final 30 seconds of the quarter ending with Adelaide up 77-69

In the final quarter the failing part of Wollongong became apparent with a lack of depth the players were getting tired. But this is Adelaide's strength as Jason Cadee is too quick with another fast break and lay up. Mitch Creek also tries to step up but Wollongong were happy to let him shoot. And the lead gets out to 10 points 83-73 with 6 minutes left to play. Adelaide worked hard on defence and played some good denial D but with so many 3 point shooters on the Hawks the find Davidson who drains a 3 and the hawks have worked their way back Hawks 80-83. But Fye got pumped off a loose ball drive over Davidson with the fould and the refs call it unsportsmanlike which was only a hard foul. And again the refs have decided the game with the lead getting out to Hawks 85-90 with only just over a minute to play. The Hawks however kept fighting hard and got back to within 3 points however they kept needing to fould and they couldnt shorten the gap with gary Ervin shooting from the free throw line 3 times to close out the game 97-91. It was a good showing from the hawks who will be very happy with their new import Kevin Tiggs who gives them more options on offence. Also the 36ers showed that through use of their depth of bench which is one of the few teams that go 10 deep they will take every game to the last second and try to push out for the win. This game was closer then i was expecting and im glad to see the NBL with a greater parity in teams, lets hope it continues through the season.
Adelaide 36ers 97 (Ervin 24, Frye 15, Creek 14)
Wollongong Hawks 91 (Davidson 16, Tiggs 14, Coenraad 13, Demos 13)