South Spotlight | Hawks beat Blues to stay alive

Featured image: @tashwardenphotography

It was a Tuesday night showcase with plenty on the line for both teams and Jonathan Lawton inspired the Ringwood Hawks to the crucial NBL1 South win against the Frankston Blues who missed a chance for a seventh straight win.

Ringwood are hosting two games this week at Norwood Secondary College and it got underway on Tuesday night with them trying to respond from losing three of their past four games to stay in the top 10 mix.

Frankston then arrived having won their past six matches to be the form team of the NBL1 South and it turned out being a standout contest between two high quality teams with no more than eight points ever separating them the whole way.

In the end Ringwood finished the better with 28 points to 21 in the fourth quarter to now improve to an 8-10 record to be in 11th position while Frankston are now 12-6 in fifth place and having lost for the first time since May 16.

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It was a high quality Tuesday night affair with plenty on the line and by the finish Ringwood shot 52 per cent from the field with 11/27 from downtown to the 50 per cent and 10/29 from Frankston.

The Hawks went 24/31 at the free-throw line to 15/22 from the Blues while Frankston had 16 turnovers and Ringwood 13, and the Blues pulled down 12 offensive rebounds to the six from the Hawks.

Ringwood got the win they needed to keep their season alive with Jonathan Lawton starring with 29 points, six assists, five steals and four rebounds on shooting 8/13 from the floor, 5/8 from behind the three-point line, and 8/9 at the foul line.

Junior Garbrah also had 20 points and four rebounds, Chris Brandon 14 points and six boards, Lawson Eales 12 points, five rebounds and two assists, and Harry Sealey 11 points, nine assists, four steals and three rebounds.

Frankston missed the chance to make it seven straight wins with Dibaji Walker producing another 23 points, six rebounds and four assists with 8/14 shooting from the field and 5/5 at the foul line.

Jeremy Combs also had another 19 points, eight rebounds and two assists with Lucas Barker contributing 18 points, five boards and two assists with 3/5 three-point shooting.

Austin Shelley also had 14 points and three rebounds, Jack Stanwix eight points and seven assists, and Kynan Philippe six points on 2/3 shooting from behind the arc.

It was a big game for both teams coming into it with the Blues trying to break into the top four and the Hawks into the top 10, and they combined with 51 points in an entertaining opening quarter.

Frankston were leading 28-23 by quarter-time before then going up by eight in the second term only for Ringwood to end up having 22 points to 18 in the quarter and by half-time the Blues were clinging to the 46-45 advantage.

Precious little was separating the teams across the board with Frankston shooting 18/34 from the field to the 16/29 from Ringwood while both teams were going an identical 6/15 from behind the three-point line.

Frankston had seven offensive rebounds to three but also 10 turnovers to eight while the Hawks went 7/11 from the free-throw line to 4/6.

Jonathan Lawton had a strong first half for the Hawks with 14 points and five assists with 3/4 three-point shooting while Lachlan Barker had a couple of threes for 12 points with the Blues and Jeremy Combs also had 12 points.

It was then 26 points apiece in the third quarter to leave Frankston clinging to the 72-71 lead by three quarter-time setting up a big finish with plenty at stake for both teams.

There were several times throughout the final term where the Hawks did get out to a four-point lead but the Blues kept on responding until inside the final minutes when Combs missed a pair of free throws.

Junior Garbrah then made both up the other end for Ringwood to make it a six-point margin and then Lawton also made both with the game on the line for the Hawks to clinch the six-point win and keep them right in the playoff hunt.

Ringwood will now attempt to make it two mid-weeks wins when they remain at home on Thursday night hosting the Kilsyth Cobras with the Blues backing up on Saturday night hosting Geelong United.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | FIRST NATIONS ROUND

RINGWOOD HAWKS 99 (Lawton 29, Garbrah 20, Brandon 14)

FRANKSTON BLUES 93 (Walker 23, Combs 19, Barker 18)