Basketball: Hawks lick wounds after mauling

Jarrod Kenny.

Coach Liam Flynn championed the collective pride in his troops' defence in Saturday's match programme but it'll be back to the drawing board for the Hawks this week.

Based on the top two percentages in the NBL, Flynn said "field goal against" and "contested shot" percentages - as well as "points per possession" and "defensive rebounding" - were facets that contributed to their two wins on the trot before Saturday night's 101-90 loss to the Manawatu Jets.

In Saturday's defeat, the Hawks leaked 101 points. The bottom line is if they want to make playoffs, it is that sort of game they'll have to win.

Co-skipper Jarrod Kenny said: "It was not a great game after the previous win in Taranaki".

Kenny and co-captain Paora Winitana scored 16 points each on Saturday, while import Suleiman Braimoh added 14 and seven rebounds but conceded six turnovers.

It was one of the worst first-half displays staged at the PG Arena, with Braimoh the only significant statistics for the hosts.

Bench player Morgan Natanahira scored 12 points but US import Zack Atkinson had a quiet day.

Kenny said it was about the little things they discussed last week - stopping the Jets taking points off the paint and rebounding.

"We failed in both those categories. Offensively we struggled but defensively we were worse.

"We weren't prepared mentally, I think, to get up to play because they were coming at us and we had nothing in return," Kenny said.

He was bereft of ideas as to why the Hawks slip when playing the Jets (4-1 down in recent head-to-heads) but agreed their arch-rivals lifted themselves for the occasion.

"I think this is one game they target every year and a couple of times they have taken us by surprise and never looked back."

Kenny felt the Jets had thrown down the gauntlet as early as the first quarter to force the Hawks into playing catch-up basketball.

"The 101 points is the sore point for us because we want to be the best defensive team in the league and we work hard at that," he said, adding that the Hawks fought but "just weren't there".

The Jets' biggest margin was 25 and the lead never changed, although the teams were tied 4-4 early in the first quarter.

Kenny thanked the PG Arena faithful for their support despite three defeats from four games at home.

MATCH STATISTICS

Hawks' figures first:

Field goals: 34/73 (47%); 34/65 (52%).

3 pointers: 6/27 (22%); 7/15 (47%).

Free throws: 16/24 (67%); 26/30 (87%).

Rebounds: 29; 43.

Assists: 12; 17.

Steals: 10, 5.

Blocks: 2; 2.

Turnovers: 14/18.

Fouls (fouls on): 24 (21); 22 (23).

Points in the paint: 44; 40.

2nd chance pts: 15, 15.

Pts off turnovers: 14, 7.

Pts off bench: 34; 39.

Result: IMS Payroll Bank Hawks 90 (Jarrod Kenny 16pts, 6 assists; Paora Winitana 16pts; Suleiman Braimoh 14pts, 7 reb, 5 steals; Morgan Natanahira 12pts) Breakers Manawatu Jets 101 (Brook Ruscoe 21pts, 6 assists; Jeremiah Trueman 20pts, 11 reb; Jordan Ngatai 20pts; Derone Raukawa 15pts, 7 reb; Brandon Jenkins 12pts, 6 assists).

Quarters (Hawks first), 1st: 15-27. 2nd: 35-56 (20-29). 3rd: 57-77 (22-21). Final: 101-90 (33-14).

- Fiba live scoring