NBL: Hawks skittle league-leading Saints away from home

The Hawks are coming home to more than roost after beating Sal’s NBL leaders the Wellington Saints 87-75 on the road on Sunday.

Wani Swaka Lo Buluk in the Hawks’ win over NBL leaders Wellington Saints in Wellington on Sunday. Photo / Masanori Udagawa / Photowellington

The Big Barrel Hawks are now set to draw possibly their biggest home crowd of the season against Tauranga Whai at Rodney Green Arenas, Taradale, on Thursday night.

With Wani Swaka Lo Buluk scoring 24 points in his biggest effort since arriving from Australian champions Illawarra Hawks, the Hawks snuck back into the top six, recovering from an 88-80 loss to Franklin Bulls in front of a big Anzac Day crowd in Taradale.

The Hawks have a 6-5 win-loss record at the halfway stage, while the Whai have won five of their 10 games, and lost 90-95 to the Taranaki Airs at the weekend.

The Hawks won 86-74 when they last played Whai in Tauranga on April 5.

Hawks CEO Jarrod Kenny said the Anzac Day crowd – estimated at more than 1700 – was “one of the biggest we’ve seen for a while”.

Thursday’s match will be the last for each side before the Tall Blacks play the Australian Boomers in Hamilton next week.

The Tall Blacks squad includes Hawks teenager Jackson Ball, who became one of the youngest debutants in the national team earlier in the year.

The Hawks will play the Nelson Giants in their first game back in Taradale on May 16.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues and personalities.