Wounded Hawks Cop Another Blow

Illawarra Mercury

Friday December 19, 2008

By MICHAEL COX

WOLLONGONG Hawks could be without bench centre Larry Davidson for tomorrow's crucial clash with Melbourne after he missed his side's 91-88 loss to Gold Coast Blaze on Wednesday night.

The Hawks (6-12) led Gold Coast with less than four minutes remaining but Gold Coast got home behind a hot-shooting night by gunner James Harvey (37 points, 11/20 field goals and 8/13 three-pointers).

Wollongong have now lost seven straight games and are likely to be without Davidson (knee) against a physical Tigers side boasting Chris Anstey and Rod Grizzard.

The 206cm Davidson, who has struggled with knee injuries throughout his NBL career, trained sparingly during the week and failed a fitness test before the Blaze game. He will travel with the team to Melbourne and receive physio treatment but coach Eric Cooks doubted he would suit up.

"It's been an ongoing problem with his knees - they pulled up too sore to play - it was a 50-50 chance to play but (he was ruled out) after tests on game day. I guess he would have to be doubtful," Cooks said.

Davidson won't know the extent of the problems until he has scans when he returns to Wollongong.

"It's an opportunity for someone else to stand up and have a go," Cooks said of Davidson's absence against Gold Coast.

One player who did stand up was forward Anthony Petrie. In his first start for the Hawks he racked up an impressive 21 points and six rebounds in just under 32 minutes.

Dusty Rychart had 16 points and nine rebounds and Glen Saville scored 12 points to go along with 13 boards.

The Hawks led 52-51 at half-time, and opened the third-quarter with a 9-2 run.

They couldn't put the game away though, leading by six with less than four minutes to go and then by four with three minutes remaining.

A basket by Luke Whitehead (20 points, 14 rebounds) got the Blaze within two before back-to-back threes by Harvey gave his side a break that left the Hawks lamenting another lost opportunity.

"We had trouble containing Harvey, he had a night out - he couldn't miss," Cooks said.

"He's a good player and he worked hard to get shots and to their credit they got him the ball where he wanted it, which seemed to be everywhere on the court, and he just continued to knock them down."

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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