Hawks lose third straight game at home in Napier

Hawks guard Derone Raukawa toes the free-throw line. Photo / Thomas Airey

By Thomas Airey

The Taylor Hawks dropped their third straight game at home, going down 107-80 to the Wellington Saints at Pettigrew Green Arena on Thursday night.

They still control their own destiny in the race for the playoffs, but the heavy defeat does reduce the Hawks' margin for error with two games left to play.

Hawke's Bay got off to a hot shooting start with three-pointers falling for Hyrum Harris and Tajuan Agee.

It was enough for them to lead the Saints 27-20 at the end of the first quarter.

The size and skill of Vodanovich and imports Xavier Cooks and Reggie Upshaw jnr did make defensive mismatches for the Hawks to cope with, but it was the home team that was able to create open looks more consistently with good offence.

The scoring dried up in the final few minutes of the second quarter, though, as the Saints went on a 12-0 run to turn an eight-point Hawks lead into a 45-41 halftime advantage.

Hawke's Bay got back within two points by the halfway mark of the third period, but again went cold from the field and turned the ball over to let the Saints blow their lead out to 23 points by three-quarter time.

With the Hawks offence stalling out, Wellington were able to get out for transition shots and they hit six straight three-pointers to close the third term.

Hawke's Bay came close to parity in the fourth quarter, but the result was never in doubt as the visitors cruised to victory.

The same sort of long-range barrage in the third quarter buried the Hawks in the reverse fixture in Wellington last week with the Saints eventually winning by 30.

That July 14 game was the Hawks' fourth straight loss - Thursday night made for five in six games and dropped the Hawks to 8-8 on the season.

They will need to win at least one of their two remaining games - both at home; v Jets on July 31, v Rams on August 6 - to stay in the top six and make the finals.