Goorjian still king of derby clashes

MASTERCOACH Brian Goorjian extended his personal winning streak in the NBL’s NSW derby to 11 when he guided Illawarra to a tense and tight 85-82 victory over Sydney at Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday.

Goorjian (pictured) won 10 straight matches as Sydney coach against the Hawks during his glorious six-year reign in the Harbour City from 2002-08, which included a hattrick of championships.

But in his first match against the Kings as the Hawks mentor, Illawarra survived a Sydney surge in the second half to snap a two-game losing streak and take bragging rights in the “Freeway Series”.

Tyler Harvey had 25 points for the Hawks, including a pivotal long bomb in the fourth quarter. Four other Illawarra players finished in double figures, while Casper Ware had 21 points for the Kings, who started slowly but got better the longer the game went.

Sydney had a shot in the dying seconds to send the match into overtime but it drew iron.

The Hawks led by six points at quarter-time thanks to a 14-3 run in the opening term and they extended their buffer to 12 points midway through the second quarter.

The Kings responded with an 8-0 run of their own as Illawarra took a 50-42 advantage into halftime.

Sydney lost import Jarell Martin to injury in the third quarter but cut the margin to just two points at the last change to set up a grandstand finish.

It was the 99th edition of the NSW derby at Qudos Bank Arena, and a 45th Hawks win over the Kings.