East Spotlight | Peatling, Blanchfield hand CoE first loss

Featured image: Rob Sheeley/@robshots

Mason Peatling put up 32 points and Todd Blanchfield delivered a triple double as the NBL veterans led the Illawarra Hawks to hand the Centre of Excellence a first NBL1 East loss of 2026 with the 107-95 victory.

The CoE arrived at The Snakepit in Wollongong on Saturday night having won their first four matches of the season as they took on a Hawks team having made the Grand Final in 2025 and lost just once in six games so far this year.

It was in the second quarter when the Hawks began to pull away and by half-time Blanchfield and Matt Mims had combined for 30 points and 8/15 three-point shooting.

Mason Peatling then got rolling in the second half and the end result was the 12-point victory for the Hawks as they improve to 6-1 on the season with four on the trot with the CoE now 4-1 after a first defeat of 2026.

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It was a hot shooting performance by the Hawks as they ended up going 18/41 at 44 per cent from long range with Blanchfield, Mims and Peatling combining to go 14/31.

Peatling top-scored for Illawarra with 32 points, six rebounds and two assists on 13/19 shooting from the floor and 4/7 from behind the three-point arc.

Blanchfield still scored 25 points but did plenty more for a triple double made up of 11 rebounds and 10 assists while still shooting 5/12 from three-point range.

Mims provided another 19 points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals with Mohamed Kone contributing 13 points, six boards, three steals and two assists, and Ethan Moss six points, four assists, three boards and two steals.

It's a first loss of the season after four wins for the Centre of Excellence with them only managing to get to the foul line 10 times to the 24 from the Hawks.

Alex Dickeson was once again delivered a standout performance with 21 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two blocks with Ajak Nyuon contributing 20 points and five boards.

Jai Faale also had 19 points and three assists, Will Hamilton 10 points and five rebounds, Isaac Riddle eight points and four boards, and NBL Next Star Luke Paul five points, five rebounds and four assists.

With just one loss between the two teams in their nine games so far this season, it was always going to be a tantalising match up and the first quarter lived up to that with the Hawks leading 24-21 by the end of it.

Illawarra were then able to open up a 13-point lead during the second period and with Todd Blanchfield and Matt Mims combining for 30 points on 8/15 three-point shooting, the Hawks went into half-time leading 50-41.

Ajak Nyuon was doing what he could to keep the Centre of Excellence in the contest with 14 points to the first half but the difference was the Hawks shooting 11/23 from downtown opposed to the 3/13 from the CoE.

It was then Mason Peatling's turn to catch fire in the third quarter for Illawarra and he had 22 points to his name as a result by three quarter-time with the Hawks retaining an eight-point lead even with the CoE putting up 31 points for the term.

The Hawks got back out to a 16-point lead in the final quarter and would go on to secure the 12-point victory to hand the Centre of Excellence a first defeat of 2026.

The Centre of Excellence will try to bounce back on Sunday when they return home to take on the Albury Wodonga Bandits with the Hawks not playing again until next Saturday when they are on the road to the Inner West Bulls.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 5

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 107 (Peatling 32, Blanchfield 25, Mims 19)

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE 95 (Dickeson 21, Nyuon 20, Faale 19)