Basketball: Hawks register victory No 2 on platform of effort and simplicity

Hawks forward Darryl Taylor and his teammates enjoyed themselves tonight in their second win of the NBL season. PHOTO/FILE

Ben Hill had pre-match, in the aftermath of Kirstin Daly-Taylor's resignation, talked of calling the adjustment bureau to tweak the Hawks' starting five but last night the caretaker coach attributed their victory in Te Awamutu simply to effort.

"It shows tonight that they are a totally different team to the one that played on Tuesday night," said Hill on his debut as coach of the Taylor Corporation-sponsored Hawke's Bay franchise team who eked out only their second win this season, 101-95, over James Blond Supercity Rangers, to lift themselves off the bottom of the table to sit above the Nelson Giants on as many wins.

But the former Tall Black wasn't getting carried away, adding they "have a hell of a lot of work still to do" in their quest to make the playoffs in the National Basketball League.

Hill said he and his first assistant, Clifton Bush II, had tweaked their offensive and defensive systems to keep the game plan simple.

In many respects, he said they had adopted Daly-Taylor's blueprint but made a few minor adjustments that boosted not just the players' confidence but also theirs as coaches.

While the Jeff Green-coached Rangers had experience, captain Jarrod Kenny had marshalled the troops with aplomb to confuse the hosts.

"They didn't shoot three pointers very well because we got out to them quickly and didn't give them too many looks," Hill said, lauding the defence for stifling the Rangers to 1-16 compared with the Hawks' 7/17.

"They shoot a lot of threes and they live and die by their threes."

Kenny's 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists were given but Hill saluted swingman Tony Tolovae (21pts) for his late offensive flurry.

"Tony had a really, really good game today. He was actually a different player," he said, feeling it was more a case of mindset for the Sydney-based Kiwi making his debut for the Hawks.

Import centre Amir Williams (18pts) was fouled out but converted on all eight field goals attempts.

"They just loved it out there. They really did," Hill said of the Hawks, rubbishing Williams' fouls.

He singled out forwards Darryl Jones and Anamata Haku for their contributions, even though they only got 14 and 11 minutes, respectively.

"DJ hit a couple good threes and Ana came down pretty good in the tights."

Tolovae kept a leash around US import Earnest Ross Jr's neck to disrupt his shooting while Fiji-born forward Joshua Fox kept Nigerian-born US import centre Nnanna Egwu in check.

Guard Everard Bartlett managed three points in 32 minutes and not shooting as much as Hill would have liked but he said when they could win while he was off the boil then it was a bonus.

"A win's a win and we'll take it."

It is the second straight loss for the Rangers who drop to 4-4. Lindsay Tait returned from his injury to register 19 points and nine rebounds, and Mitch McCarron had a game-high 31.

The Hawks host the Giants again on May 6.

In Invercargill, the Southland Sharks thumped Taranaki Mountainairs 97-67.