East Spotlight | Blanchfield, Mims light it up for Hawks

Featured image: Rob Sheeley/@robshots

Todd Blanchfield, Matthew Mims and Mason Peatling produced 72 points, 34 rebounds, 12 assists and 16 three-pointers as the Illawarra Hawks lit it up to beat the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders 97-80 in the NBL1 East on Sunday.

The Spiders opened their season also at home on Saturday with a 12-point loss to the Central Coast Crusaders while the Hawks started their 2026 campaign with a 13-point road victory against the Maitland Mustangs.

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai backed up on Sunday at The Brickpit but trying to keep the firepower of the Hawks in check was the challenge and they couldn’t do that for three quarters.

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Blanchfield and Mims had already combined for 36 points and 11 three-pointers for Illawarra by half-time with them opening up a 21-point half-time lead.

That got out to as much as 30 points early in the fourth before the Spiders did finish with a flurry with 36-point fourth quarter points and six three-pointers to cut the final winning margin to the Hawks to 17 after last year's grand final appearance.

Illawarra ended up shooting 51 per cent from the field with 17/37 at 46 per cent from downtown while collecting 59 rebounds and having 21 assists, but 22 turnovers would have concerned coach Matt Flinn.

Hornsby did only have eight turnovers, but from their 51 three-point attempts they made just 14 at 27 per cent.

Todd Blanchfield had a bit more time to prepare for this NBL1 East season with the Hawks missing the NBL finals after their championship triumph of 2026, and he showed he's ready to fire once more.

The 473-game NBL veteran knocked down 8/16 from three-point range including 6/10 to half-time for 25 points along with pulling down 20 rebounds with two blocks.

Matthew Mims was his partner in crime shooting 5/10 from behind the arc in the first half and 7/13 for the game for 27 points, 10 assists, four rebounds and two blocks.

Mason Peatling is another coming off his NBL season with Illawarra and produced 20 points and 10 rebounds while being +27 for the Hawks in his 28 minutes.

Jackson Smyth ended up making 5/13 from three-point territory for Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai for 23 points with four steals, three assists and three rebounds.

Alex Sidhu added 17 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three steals, Mikes Connelly IV 14 points with 4/8 three-point shooting, and Nathaniel Chappell 13 points and five rebounds.

It was tight going in the first quarter with the Hawks only leading 20-16 by the end of one but then it was Illawarra that lit it up spectacularly in the second quarter with Todd Blanchfield and Matthew Mims unstoppable with their three-point shooting.

The Hawks put up 30 points to 13 in the second quarter and by half-time Blanchfield had drained 6/10 from deep for 19 points. Mims added 5/10 for 17 and as a team they were shooting 12/24 from three-point territory at the break.

Illawarra were leading 50-29 by half-time as a result with Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai struggling offensively with just the 23 per cent shooting themselves including 2/30 from long-range and getting to the free-throw line just once.

Blanchfield made another couple of threes in the third quarter and Mims knocked down another for the Hawks to extend their advantage to 27 points by three quarter-time.

To the credit of the Spiders, they lit it up themselves in the final period by putting up 36 points with six three-pointers to cut the final winning margin of Illawarra back to 17.

The Spiders remain at home following the Easter break to host the defending champion Manly Warringah Sea Eagles on Saturday April 11. The Hawks remain away from home against the defending champion Canberra Gunners in a Grand Final rematch.

NBL EAST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 1

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 80 (Smyth 23, Sidhu 17, Connelly IV 14)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 97 (Mims 27, Blanchfield 25, Peatling 20)