Mad Moment Seals Victory

Illawarra Mercury

Monday December 29, 2008

By MIKE DRISCOLL

TURNING points in NBL games don't come much more resounding than the handful of seconds in the third quarter of the Hawks clash on Saturday night.

Wollongong were fighting off a Sydney Spirit fightback and led 81-77 when Mat Campbell crashed through traffic to score and earn a foul.

The basket gave the Hawks an 83-77 lead, plus Campbell had a free throw to come, before Spirit bench forward Blagoj Janev was tech-fouled for abusing an official on the call.

Janev was immediately subbed but then abused referee Roger Shiels, who issued a second tech foul; this time charged to the Spirit bench.

Campbell stepped up and made his free throw for the foul, then three of four frees for the technicals.

With Wollongong given back possession and scoring from their next play the home side scored eight points in just a few seconds without the Spirit touching the ball.

From 81-77 ahead to 89-77, the few seconds of madness from Janev shifted the momentum back to Wollongong from which the Spirit never recovered.

"Blagoj had a brain snap, it was totally unacceptable," Spirit coach Rob Beveridge said afterwards.

"It was dumb. He plays with passion but we've spoken to him about controlling his emotions and tonight he didn't and it cost us.

"We had the momentum, were making a bit of a run and suddenly it's a eight point shift. All up we gave them 39 foul shots, some of them were really ticky-tacky ones and you can't win NBL games doing that."

Spirit skipper Jason Smith said his team paid the price for a lack of discipline.

"We shot ourselves in the foot at crucial times. When you're in the position we are, fighting for our lives to make the play-offs - you can't let teams off the hook by sending them to the foul line."

Hawks coach Eric Cooks said the double technicals were a key moment in a tight game.

"We'd met every challenge they threw at us at that stage but it was definitely a big play for us.

"We had the lead and it put them back on their heels a bit and from there till really late in the fourth quarter I thought we handled things okay."

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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