AUS/NZL – Ervin’s magic leads Hawks to late win over Crocs

WOLLONGONG (NBL) - The Wollongong Hawks shocked the Townsville Crocodiles with a late 71-70 come-from-behind triumph on Friday night.

Trailing by 14 points in the third quarter, the home side battled back and prevailed when Gary Ervin made one of two free-throws with .3 seconds remaining.

Ervin finished with a game-high 25-points while Townsville got 17 points and nine rebounds from center Luke Schenscher.

The Crocs won’t sleep very well after this defeat after leading by as many as 14 points.

The hosts went on a 13-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters to close the gap to 56-55, only for the Crocs to go back in front by nine midway through the period.

Ervin then poured in nine of the Hawks’ next 12 points to bring Wollongong back to 70-68 with less than a minute remaining. Ervin tried to tie it but had his shot swatted by Russell Hinder and the ball went out of bounds to the visitors with 17 seconds to go.

Peter Crawford’s errant pass turned possession back to the Hawks, though, and Glen Saville fed Mat Campbell who scored to knot the game.

Gabe Freeman then turned the ball over with four seconds to go and he shortly after committed a foul on Ervin, who made the decisive free-throw.

Wollongong improved to 2-0 with the triumph and the Crocs slipped to 1-1.

The Crocs lost despite winning the rebounding battle, 40-31.

FIBA