Illawarra lost its second game in three days to drop to a 1-4 record, falling 98-92 at home to the Adelaide 36ers.
The Hawks were led by Aaron Brooks who scored 31 points, the most of any player in an NBL game this season, while also shooting 65 percent from the field.
LaMelo Ball finished with 15 points, five rebounds and seven assists in just under 30 minutes of action.
Ball continues to struggle from behind the arc, missing seven of his eight three-point attempts. He is now 3-for-25 on the season from three.
Adelaide raced out of the gates, scoring six points in the first 80 seconds of the match before Illawarra even had the chance to blink.
The highlight of the first half came from a Ball behind-the-back assist following a behind-the-back dribble move with Josh Boone making no mistake finishing the open dunk.
While Brooks was on fire, his Illawarra teammates struggled to knock down shots and were even worse on defense as Illawarra was lucky to go into halftime trailing by just seven points.
Both teams traded blows in an even third quarter before Ball’s third three-pointer of the season late in the quarter cut the margin to five points with a quarter to play.
Illawarra pushed hard in the last quarter and a nice Brooks reverse layup with 54 seconds on the clock cut the margin to two points, the closest it had been since the opening minute of the game.
Tim Coenraad had a chance to give the Hawks the lead with under 30 seconds to play but his open three clanked off the back of the rim and Adelaide were able to knock down their free throws to ice the game.
Illawarra will look to score its second win of the season when it takes on RJ Hampton’s New Zealand Breakers for the first time this season on Thursday. Tip-off is slated for 3:30 a.m. Eastern.
