BOXSCORE

Mark Worthington led the Gold Coast Blaze to a 91-50 annihilation of the Wollongong Hawks in Saturday night's spiteful encounter on the Gold Coast.

The Australian Boomer was bruising in defence and lethal in attack, finishing with 25 points, five rebounds and two steals with strong support from Adris Deleon and Adam Gibson (both 13 points).

Only new recruit Ayinde Ubaka (12 points) managed double figures for Wollongong as they struggled to find a way through the jamming Gold Coast defence.

Worthington found himself receiving verbal and physical attention from the Hawks, who became frustrated by the physicality and lop-sided scoreline. Veteran Hawks coach Gordie Mcleod received a rare technical foul for questioning referee Scott Beker.

Tempers then threatened to boil over in the third quarter as first Worthington and Larry Davidson came together before Glen Saville and Anthony Petrie exchanged pleasantries.

The Blaze ambushed the Hawks early with its rugged defence, knocking the visitors out of their offensive rhythm and leaping to an early 17-7 lead.

The injection of Ubaka made some headway against the Gold Coast defence, the guard scoring eight points including a late triple to keep the Hawks within range at 26-17 down after 10 minutes.

Deleon found his range early in the second term, his two long-range jumpshots pushing the lead out to 13 before the tech foul on Mcleod increased the advantage to 17.

Wollongong launched a mini-fightback with three consecutive baskets late in the term, but they were unable to build any pressure against the impregnable Gold Coast defence, going to the main break trailing 47-29.

The dam wall cracked wide open after half-time as the Gold Coast ran roughshod over the visitors to record its fourth consecutive win.

Gold Coast Blaze 91 (Worthington 25, Deleon 13, Gibson 13)
Wollongong Hawks 50 (Ubaka 12)

Crowd: 3122 at Gold Coast Convention Centre