Captain's Hot Hand High Point For Hawks

Illawarra Mercury

Monday September 24, 2007

By TIM KEEBLE

HE'D swap every point for two wins but Wollongong captain Mat Campbell was on target in the Hawks' season-opening losses to Adelaide and Melbourne.

Campbell was a perfect four from four from the three-point line on the way to 16 points in the 108-101 loss to the 36ers on Friday night.

He backed up with 12 points (two of four three-pointers) on Saturday against Melbourne.

Wollongong coach Eric Cooks said he might have to make the 13th-year guard more of an offensive focal point.

"Mat shot the ball really well," Cooks said.

"We probably need to get him more shots, especially when he has it going like he did against Adelaide."

Campbell's back-court partner, Kavossy Franklin, led the Hawks with a team-high 19 points in each game. The club's major off-season signing made 50 per cent of his shots and averaged seven assists and 51/2 rebounds for the weekend.

Fellow import James Peters averaged 13 points and 61/2 rebounds, while backup guard Lindsay Tait scored 14 against Adelaide and 16 against the Tigers on 12 from 19 shooting.

Centre Cam Tragardh had 12 points on each night, and Cam Rigby was strong off the bench with 14 points against Adelaide.

Sixers forward Adam Ballinger tallied 22 points against his former team, while Brad Davidson also had 22 and Brett Maher added 21.

Chris Anstey dominated with 27 points for the Tigers on Saturday night and new recruit Martin Muursepp scored 14 on debut.

"There are a lot of good signs," Melbourne coach Al Westover said.

"We might have been a bit sloppy in our execution, but everyone is on the same page."

Westover believes former NBA forward Muursepp could become one of the league's top imports.

"He's going to be a very valuable part of the mix," he said.

"You can see the things he can do for us, he's a post target, he's a good passer, plays some defence and gets some rebounds."

Cooks said Anstey and Muursepp made life tough for the Hawks.

"We did a better job in the second half on Muursepp. Anstey killed us all night," he said.

"They've probably got the biggest two guys in the league and we're probably one of the smaller teams, so I always knew that was going to be a match-up problem for us."

© 2007 Illawarra Mercury

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