Bullets take down Hawks in Illawarra

The Brisbane Bullets claimed their first win of NBL23 with an emphatic 82-56 win over the Illawarra Hawks.

The Bullets got out to an 18-6 lead early with the team getting into the paint and attacking the rim. The consistent inside, outside play contributed to the team getting wide open knock down threes.

Three-point plays from Aron Baynes and Tanner Krebs, and a triple from Nathan Sobey had the visitors going into the first quarter break with a 22-13 lead.

There was much of the same in the second quarter with Baynes dominating the paint. Tyrell Harrison also had a strong presence inside and the Bullets clamped down on defence, only allowing the home side 29 points in the first half.

The Bullets got out to a slower start to the second half, but were able to stem the flow of the Hawks as well. Tyler Johnson impressed on the defensive end, with two blocks and a steal in the period. Brisbane took a 55-42 lead into three quarter time.

Coming out of the final break, the Bullets got on the board first with a triple to DJ Mitchell. They continued to extend their lead and Jason Cadee got rolling with eight points in succession to extend the Bullets lead to 23 points. 

Aron Baynes had a strong performance in the paint, finishing with a double-double of 17 points and 14 rebounds on 8/13 shooting.

Jason Cadee hit four triples for 16 points and four assists. Nathan Sobey was close to a triple-double adding 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Tyler Johnson had 11 points and three blocks, and DJ Mitchell  added 10 points and six boards.

The two teams go back at it on Thursday night at Nissan Arena for the Bullets second home game of the season.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 4

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 56 (Harvey 13, Froling 11, Deng 8)

BRISBANE BULLETS 82 (Baynes 17, Cadee 16, Johnson 11, Sobey 11)

BOX SCORE

Get tickets to the Bullets home game on Thursday 27 October against the Illawarra Hawks HERE.