Hawks snuff Kings’ playoff hopes

The Sydney Kings are out of the NBL playoff race. Source: Adam Ward / News Corp Australia

THE Sydney Kings' playoffs aspirations disappeared in quicksand on Friday night after conceding a 100-87 loss against the Wollongong Hawks at the Sandpit.

Rotnei Clarke was the man the Kings wanted to stop pre-game and he struggled in the first half, scoring four points at one from eight from the field.

But he got going in the second half, as Clarke and captain Oscar Forman had a fun night beyond the arc to so book a spot in the playoffs.

The result means that tonight's game at the Kingdome against the Townsville Crocodiles will be a dead-rubber and Sam Young's final appearance in an entertaining stint with the Kings.

A three-point basket from Clarke gave the Hawks an 11-point lead with less than seven minutes remaining in the contest, but the Kings put on a quick run to get them within five points midway through the final quarter.

But three-point baskets from Forman and Rotnei sealed the deal, pushing the margin back to double digits with three minutes to go.

Forman finished with 26 points after scoring 20 points in the opening half, while Clarke ended up with 24 points at 44 per cent after a red-hot second half.

Shooting from beyond the arc was a factor in the Hawks 13-pint win, nailing 19 out of their 35 three-point attempts.

Sam Young led the Kings scoring with 27 points, and Ben Madgen (17 points) and Tom Garlepp (16) were strong contributors.

It was a shoot-out between the captains as Wollongong's Forman and Sydney's Madgen scored 14 and 10 points respectively. With the scores tight throughout the quarter, Forman gave his Hawks valuable breathing space going in to quarter-time with consecutive three-point baskets to give the Hawks a 28-22 lead at the first change.

After only scoring two points in the first quarter, Young scored 11 points in the second quarter to help the Kings cut an eight-point margin to three, but a late basket from beyond the arc from Forman kept the margin at six points going in to half time.

Clarke finally snapped out of his cold spell with two three-point baskets and another three from Forman helping the Hawks break out to an 11-point lead midway through the third quarter. A strong recovery led by Sanders and a three-point basket from Cody Ellis got the Kings within five and James Harvey almost cut the margin to two points just before the buzzer to end the third quarter.

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