Basketball On The Internet.

WITH the return of All Star centre Jo Lual-Acuil, Ariel Hukporti staked his strongest claim yet for even more minutes, producing a 21-point, 10-rebound stat line as United cooked the Hawks in Wollongong 101-91.

Lual-Acuil was eased back into the Melbourne rotation, scoring 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting in 15:35 as United, down Matthew Dellavedova (concussion protocols) forever held the edge over Illawarra. 

But it was Hukporti who stood out in the wake of Lual-Acuil's return, his points coming off 6-of-7 shooting and his intimidation around the basket a huge factor.

Gary Clark (17 points, 9 rebs) gave Illawarra the lead at 49-47 late in the second quarter but it was all United in the final two minutes, storming to a 59-51 interval buffer with a 14-2 run to close the half, and the coffin lid.

Chris Goulding stung the Hawks with a four-point play a millisecond ahead of the halftime buzzer and it was all uphill from there for the Hawks.

To their credit, they hung around and made some runs. But with Shea Ili orchestrating United's offence, Tanner Krebs stepping up, Ian Clark, Luke Travers, Goulding and the bigs all contributing, ultimately this was like a practice match for Melbourne.

The offficiating ruined Lachlan Olbrich's game, the rookie fouling out in 6:14 with maybe, possibly, two genuinely legitimate fouls.

Dan Grida worked hard, Tyler Harvey did his usual stuff but, disappointingly, Illawarra again failed to live up to the genuine potential this group appears to have. 

MELBOURNE UNITED 101 (Hukporti 21, Clark 16, Travers 15, Goulding 13, Lual-Acuil 12, Ili 11; Hukporti 10 rebs; Ili 8 assts) d ILLAWARRA HAWKS 91 (Harvey 19, Clark 17, Lee 11; Clark 9 rebs; Robinson 5 assts) at WIN Entertainment Centre. Crowd: 2,927