Trailing by 22-points at the start of the final period the young Seahawks won what Coach Matt Flinn had all but conceded an unwinnable just 12-minutes earlier.

Dom Cooks penetrated to the basket and converted a tough finish with his non preferred hand to give Illawarra a 87-86 win.

Flinn singled out rookie Brad Simpson's impact, energy & infectous enthusiasm in the last quarter in which the rookie pulled down 5 rebounds and scored 7 points.

"Simpson along with and Luke Higgins ignited our running game" said Flinn.

Talor Goodall was huge for Illawarra, scoring 24 points (60%) and hauling down 16 boards. Dan Jackson filled the stat sheet with a line of 17 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists.

Initial plans early in the 4th were to work on some things as a team and attempt the get the score respectable. As the Seahawks slowly we chipped away at the lead, the momentum started to shift, and defensive stops started and rebounding got Illawarra running.

Flinn explained "Our effort defensively and on the boards in the 4th quarter was in complete contrast to the first 3 quarters of the game. We had 21 turnovers, up until the start of the 4th, we looked sluggish and we were shooting the ball poorly."

Flinn also believes the young squad learnt the valuable less that "the only way to compete, is by playing with maximum effort for the whole of the 48mins. We had problems exectuting all night, but to the boys credit they showed great character and did not give up."

The coach although happy with the win, he also conceded the team is having difficulty executing, and have been easily pushed out of our offence and committed a lot of soft turnovers.

"Shooting % is a concern, we shot 36% from the field (33/92), 15% from the 3pt line (4/26). You don't win to many games shooting like that." Flinn concluded.

Illawarra 87:
Talor Goodall 24pts & 16rebs
Cooks 14pts, 7rebs, 6asts,
Dan Jackson 17pts, 9rebs, 7asts
Luke Higgins 8pts, 7rebs, 4stls

Hornsby 86:

Boxscore