WWAG Match Recap - Round 4, Game 1 vs Illawarra Hawks

Melbourne United have secured a win to start Round 4, going on the road to beat Illawarra.

After locking down the Hawks on the first possession of the game, Ariel Hukporti went to work on the offensive glass, collecting the rebound and finding Ian Clark for the game’s first score.

‘Big A’ was then rewarded on the following MU play, rolling hard to the rim for two points at the hoop.

Despite this, the Hawks hit back, going on a 12-3 run before Jo Lual-Acuil Jr made his impact felt in his return to the league.

The big-man immediately found Kyle Bowen for a masterful assist before running down the court to swat Dan Grida’s shot.

After getting others involved and working hard on defence, JLA went to work on the block, scoring six points in four minutes.

More bench scoring from Bowen, as well as Flynn Cameron, combined with a Rob Loe rejection had Melbourne well placed heading into the final seconds of the term before Shea Ili dimed up Luke Travers for a buzzer-beating triple to extend United’s lead to seven points.

While they took momentum into the first break, the visitors were forced to battle hard to hold off the Hawks for much of the second term.

After Illawarra tied the game up shortly into the second, Hukporti flexed his muscle inside, scoring with ease in the paint on possession after possession to the tune of 13 first half points.

When he went to the bench, JLA kept the run going, bulldozing his way through the defence for another bucket plus the foul.

United still found themselves tied up with Illawarra with less than two minutes remaining, however Chris Goulding took it upon himself to break the game open.

CG43 cashed in on a pair of triples, the latter of which came from near half-court, plus the foul, with less than a second remaining on the clock.

The four-point-play pushed Melbourne back out to a 59-51 advantage with a half yet to play.

Clearly displeased by their defensive effort in the first two quarters, United came out looking to lock down the Hawks after half-time.

Ariel Hukporti continued his terrific game, all but shutting down Sam Froling, while Jo Lual-Acuil Jr came up with his second block.

At the other end, Melbourne’s scorers got going, with Goulding, Ian Clark and Travers finding success from all over the court.

This allowed the visitors to build on their advantage, increasing their lead to 14 points with 10 minutes remaining.

Looking to close the game out, Goulding, along with Shea Ili, found the bottom of the net from deep, while Travers got all the way to the rim for a pair of buckets.

Illawarra would make a run, cutting the MU lead to as little as 11 points, however United’s Next Star ensured that would Melbourne would hold on for the victory

The towering German skied high for an alley-oop slam before putting back an offensive rebound, finishing with a career-high 21 points to go along with 10 rebounds.

United ultimately finished with a 10 point win, their third in a row heading into The Multicultural Game on Sunday afternoon against the New Zealand Breakers.