A season-best performance from import Corin Henry has given the Sydney Kings a 65-51 victory over the league-leading Wollongong Hawks on Friday night.

The diminutive guard they call “mighty mouse” pulled off a mighty big performance to inspire a possibly season-defining home win.

His 19 points did the damage but his defensive work was equally as vital, regularly drawing offensive fouls and putting his body on the line, he was a man on a mission.

The Hawks, however, had a different night and their shooting game deserted them for long periods.

With Kings centre Ian Crosswhite (12 points, 9 rebounds) also having his best game since returning to the club, the Kings had lynchpins at both ends of the court.

And despite the best efforts of Rhys Martin (15 points, 9 rebounds) the Hawks were not able to handle a reinvigorated Kings outfit.

“This team has been training so hard, but tonight we put it together [on court] as a team, but also as individuals,” Kings coach Shane Heal said.

“Tonight was exceptional and we were fantastic.”

The ball-rotation offence that’s earned the Hawks so much praise this season wasn’t given a chance to inflict damage, such was the relentless pressure and intensity from the Kings.

“They did a great job of disrupting us and taking us out of the things we wanted to run and we struggled with the way they played,” Hawks coach Geordie McLeod said.

“We didn’t have enough counters to what they were throwing at us and we were out-played.”

After a sluggish start, Sydney upped their intensity, aggression and desire, and it began to unsettle the Hawks.

Henry drove tirelessly at the Hawks guards as his combination with Kings captain Ben Madgen (12 points, 6 rebounds) kept the Kings on top.

At the other end the Kings were able to restrict the Hawks to just 10 points in the second quarter to take a slender three-point lead into half-time.

The third quarter became a low-scoring war of attrition until Henry, again, exploded into life with a three-pointer that became the catalyst for the Kings to stretch their advantage to 10 points.

The spring was now in the Kings’ step and try as the Hawks might, tonight was not to be their night and the Kings were not going to be denied.

“We’ve been trying to work on the little things in training and to keep improving, and we thought it was a winnable game tonight,” Kings guard Aaron Bruce said.

Sydney Kings 65 (Henry 19, Crosswhite 12, Madgen 12)
Wollongong Hawks 51 (Martin 15, Hurdle 11)

Crowd: 4082 at Sydney Entertainment Centre