The Townsville Crocodiles nipped the Wollongong Hawks 73-59 at the Townsville Entertainment & Convention Centre on Friday night.
Corey Williams (25), Stephen Hoare (13) and Brad Williamson (8) ensured retribution for the Crocodiles after an 86-93 loss to the visitors on Wednesday.
Cameron Tragardh (10), Mat Campbell (7) and Glen Saville (7) threatened for the Hawks, but their horror road form of two wins from nine attempts continued.
It was the first win for the Crocodiles over the Hawks this season after three straight losses to the Wollongong outfit.
It was an ugly encounter with the sides lacking momentum and polish, but the home-side managed to grind the visitors in a low scoring third-quarter to create the winning margin.
Wollongong stretched to an early 8-2 lead courtesy of Larry Davidson despite a comical start to the game which included five turnovers and a player hitting the timber in the first two minutes.
Townsville clawed back with Jeff Dowdell and Michael Cedar nailing consecutive three pointers to end the first quarter trailing 15-16.
The Crocodiles caught the visitors napping after the break, surging to a 21-16 lead with Brad Williamson joining in the long range shooting-fest with a pair of three pointers.
The Hawks responded sharing the ball around with nine players on the scoreboard to level with five seconds on the clock, but a Williamson buzzer-beater left them trailing 38-40 at halftime.
Townsville ground out four of the next six points in just as many minutes after the break to lead 44-40 as the scoring began to dry up and momentum slowed.
Wollongong could only manage another two points and were stung by another buzzer-beater with a three-pointer from Stephen Hoare ending the third quarter 53-44.
The Crocodiles picked up where they left off after the break, extending the margin to 56-44 with another Hoare three-pointer from down the middle.
The Hawks had nothing left in the tank besides a wild air ball or two as the home side found the key to the floodgates to run away 73-59.
Townsville Crocodiles (Williams 25, Hoare 13, Williamson 8,)
Wollongong Hawks (Tragardh 10, Davidson 8, Saville 7)
Attendance: 4,067 at Townsville Entertainment & Convention Centre
