Bullets overrun late by the Hawks

The Brisbane Bullets produced their best first quarter of NBL26 and were within a point of the Illawarra Hawks with three minutes to go before the defending champs pulled away to win 100-85.

The Bullets took on the Hawks at the WIN Entertainment Centre and shot out of the blocks impressively putting up 33 points in the first quarter.

It was Brisbane's best start to a game this season with 65 per cent field goal shooting, getting to the foul line nine times and not conceding a turnover with imports Dakota Mathias and Terry Taylor combining for 19 points.

The Bullets were still leading 50-49 by half-time and it remained a tight game right up until the last three minutes when the Hawks outscored Brisbane 16 points to two the rest of the way to claim the 15-point victory.

Just as the Bullets got back to full strength aside from Casey Prather who is out for the season, Mathias injured a shoulder before half-time and didn’t return after a strong start with 11 points with 2/3 three-point shooting.

Taylor was impressive in his second NBL appearance to top-score for the Bullets with 18 points and eight rebounds with 8/14 field goal shooting.

Javon Freeman-Liberty was playing his first game since against Cairns back on September 26 and finished with 13 points and two assists with Tyrell Harrison ending up with 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots.

Captain Mitch Norton also produced eight points, six rebounds and four assists while Alex Ducas contributed nine points, three boards and three assists, Jacob Holt seven points, and 150-gamer Sam McDaniel four points and a rebound.

Three-time NBA champion JaVale McGee was a tough man to stop for the Bullets and produced 30 points with 10 rebounds for Illawarra.

QJ Peterson added 19 points, Davo Hickey 18 and Tyler Harvey 17 with the Hawks pulling down 46 rebounds to 35 in the game including 10 to six at the offensive end while forcing the Bullets into 14 turnovers after they had zero by quarter-time.

The Bullets scored first to open the game thanks to Tyrell Harrison and soon scored 10 consecutive points including a pair of three balls to Dakota Mathias to open up a 16-8 advantage and force the Hawks into an early timeout.

Javon Freeman-Liberty and Jacob Holt both then converted three-point plays and Mathias was fouled with 0.1 left in the quarter and made all three at the line to give the Bullets the 33-23 lead after their best opening period of NBL26.

Brisbane also scored the opening four points of the second frame to hold a game high 14-point advantage but then the Hawks hit back with the introduction of Biwali Bayles helping to turn the game and big man JaVale McGee benefitting with 10 points in a 12-0 run for the home team.

The Bullets were able to respond with their own run of eight straight points to be leading by seven once more following three balls to Alex Ducas and Javon-Liberty.

Illawarra again hit back with the next nine points but it was the Bullets holding a slender 50-49 lead by half-time with Terry Taylor hitting a three ball to make sure of that for the visitors.

Things remained neck and neck for a lot of the third quarter with Illawarra's lead not getting out to more than three at any point which is what they were on top by come three quarter-time.

The Bullets were back in front halfway through the fourth quarter following buckets to Sam McDaniel and Taylor, but after that the Hawks took over the contest including scoring 16 of the game's last 18 points to end up winning by 15 which was the game high margin.

The Bullets now return home to play a first game at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre since November 20 when they host the Perth Wildcats on Sunday afternoon.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26

BRISBANE BULLETS 85 (Taylor 18, Harrison 13, Freeman-Liberty 13)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 100 (McGee 30, Peterson 19, Hickey 18)

BOX SCORE