Tip-off: Saturday, December 15, 7:30pm (local), Sydney Entertainment Centre

Broadcast: NBL.TV (live)

Last time they met: Sydney 65 (Henry 19, Crosswhite 12, Madgen 12) d Wollongong 51 (Martin 15, Hurdle 11), Round 6, Sydney Entertainment Centre 

The story
In Round 24 of the 2010/11 season, Ben Madgen was putting together one of the best outings of his rookie career when Hawks veteran Glen Saville took umbrage.

The 199cm veteran was an imposing figure as he menacingly stood face-to-face with the 192cm youngster.

“We’re both competitors and we’ll do whatever it takes to win, sometimes those little flare-ups happen,” Madgen said, adding there is “no bad blood” between the pair. 

Regardless, neither has taken a backwards step in their physical battles since and their match-up at the small forward position won’t be any different, as each tries to exploit the mismatch in their favour.

Madgen has made life difficult for bigger opponents with his speed and shooting while having the trust of coach Shane Heal at the defensive end.

“Shane has the feeling that if they want to go out of their normal offensive sets to post someone up that’s taking them away from what they're most comfortable with,” Madgen said.

“The most important thing I can do against guys like Saville, (Tom) Abercrombie and Liam Rush is keep them off the boards.”

The difference this week is Wollongong are perhaps the only team in the competition who regularly post-up their small forward – and the wily Saville is an excellent post finisher.

“They run a ‘blue’ set where they post-up Glen,” Madgen said. 

“We’ve got a defensive set we’ll be able to play against that, but it’s up to me to play physical and not let him catch it where he wants it deep towards the basket.”

This match-up is just one part of an intriguing chess match between Heal and Hawks coach Gordie McLeod.

The Hawks won that battle in Round 1 but a huge rebounding advantage kept the Kings close, while Sydney completely shut down Wollongong’s offence in Round 6 to record a stunning 65-51 victory.

The stats
Saville scored 21 points and shot 10 free throws in the Round 1 victory, compared with nine points and no free throws in Round 6.

In losses, Saville is pulling in 3.0 rebounds and 0.3 offensive boards a game, which rise to 5.7 and 1.0 in victories.

Teams that have beaten the Kings have averaged 17.4 assists. The league average is 14.2 and Sydney allow only 14.4 when they win.

Wollongong and Sydney average 10.6 and 11.5 turnovers a game, respectively, lowest in the league.

The wrap
The loss of Larry Davidson with a rib injury is an enormous setback for the Hawks at both ends.

Not only is he an excellent pick-and-roll defender and deterrent for the penetration, he helps nullify one of the Kings’ key defensive assets at the other end.

Sydney centre Ian Crosswhite is arguably the best defensive talker in the competition, directing teammates and predicting plays before they happen.

When he is forced to the perimeter to guard Davidson, however, his vision of the court is diminished and his instructional ability reduced.

Hawks back-up Dave Gruber doesn’t have the same range and will allow Crosswhite to play inside his comfort zone.

When the Hawks offence was struggling last season, McLeod was reluctant to try Saville at the power forward position. 

But the combination of Oscar Forman and Saville up front might be Wollongong’s best hope of spreading Sydney’s defence to allow penetrators Rhys Martin and Adris Deleon to go to work.

Prediction: Kings by 7

The Sydney Kings held off the spirited Wollongong Hawks to record an emotional 70-63 overtime victory on Saturday night.

Despite leading by as many as 12 points in the third quarter, the Kings were made to work hard for their victory.

With the Hawks clawing their way back to within a point with seconds left in the fourth quarter, guard Adris Deleon (9 points) had a chance to steal an unlikely win for the Hawks with two free-throws.

In a tense and nervy finale, Deleon’s one-from-two sent the game into overtime.

Heeding the wake-up call, the Kings raced into a six-point scoring burst at the start of overtime, lead by import Corin Henry (13 points) and Ben Madgen (11 points), to take control.

It would prove enough to see them home.

“I felt like we were slipping this week, we weren’t training well and we didn’t start well,” Kings coach Shane Heal said.

“That said, to still win the game is positive even though we didn’t play the way we wanted to play.”


Built on a solid platform provided to them by their big men Ian Crosswhite (14 points, 11 rebounds) and import Darnell Lazare (14 points, 9 rebounds), the Kings were able to grind out the win.


“Darnell has come a long way since he first joined us,” Heal said.

“I knew that this team [Hawks] wasn’t going to go down without a fight," Lazare said.

"I had to bring as much energy as I could to help the team win the game – whatever it was, I was just trying to do my piece."



It was a pulsating end to a game that had been, for large periods, a low-scoring affair.

The game couldn’t have gone off to a better start for the Hawks.

Showing no signs of fatigue from their hard-fought win over the Perth Wildcats the night before, they raced out to an 8-0 lead.

Spurred on by back-to-back three-pointers from Oscar Forman (14 points), the early run forced incensed Kings coach Shane Heal to call a time out.

It had the desired effect with the Kings coming out firing to end the quarter up by eight.

The six points scored in the first five minutes of the second quarter told the story of the defensive nature of the game.

An Aaron Bruce triple did ignite the game and give the Kings a lead of twelve points, the biggest of the night.

But the Hawks showed what they were made of and forced overtime, thanks largely to Rhys Martin (16 points, 3 assists) and David Gruber (10 points).

“The guys struggled tonight,” Hawks coach Gordie McLeod said.

“We probably should have gone 25-30 down, so we dodged a bullet, but we came back into the game even though the result is disappointing.”

The Kings showed impressive mettle of their own to hold on for a tense seven-point victory.

“I leave tonight with more disappointment than excitement, but that’s basketball and it’s part of our growth,” Heal says.

Sydney Kings 70 (Lazare14, Crosswhite 14, Henry 13, Madgen 11)
Wollongong Hawks 63 (Martin 16, Forman 14, Hurdle 10, Gruber 10)

Crowd: 5776 at Sydney Entertainment Centre