Wells lauds ‘team effort’ in win over Hawks

Fighting back from a seven-point final quarter deficit on the road against an undefeated side has head coach Mike Wells full of pride.

The 36ers gave up the first seven points of the final quarter to trail 88-81, but came up big on the defensive end down the stretch to win a thriller 102-100 against Illawarra Hawks in Wollongong on Saturday night.

Wells has huge praise for big man Isaac Humphries, who out Adelaide in front three times in the final five minutes and came up with a decisive block on Hawks point guard Trey Kell in the final 90 seconds.

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“This game could have went a different way for him (Humphries) with the early two fouls, but he really, really stayed connected with the group, he was super positive,” Wells said post-game.

“Then he found his rhythm and a couple of those plays at the end there were just ginormous.”

Adelaide, who were coming off a 93-83 win at home against South East Melbourne less than 48 hours earlier, got contributions from all over the court, Wells applauding the effort of Alex Starling.

“We had big minutes from everyone that I put in,” Wells said.

“Starling hadn’t played the last two games, and I needed somebody else on (Darius) Days because he was on the boards at times.

“He didn’t know if he was going to play or not, but that is a true professional to come in and do the job and know the plan that we were in after sitting there for two games.

“He did all the little things, and he kept Days off the boards when I was bringing him in, taking him out, it was huge.”

Kendric Davis was the star for the 36ers in the big road win, scoring a game-high 32 points, including 19 in the first half, but Wells was impressed with other facets of his point guard’s game.

“KD in the last 48 hours, he has had a little bit different level of play,” Wells said.

“We can talk about the points, but I don’t see the points, I see his defence.

“His defence has been unbelievably impressive, on ball, off ball, and his level of play defensively down the stretch, he took certain challenges, he did that and he helped us win.”

Adelaide now move to 2-2 on the season after winning both games in Round 3 and now move on to next Friday night’s home showdown against Sydney Kings.

“Proud of my group, proud of the way we competed, proud of the way we connected on the bench during time outs in the fourth quarter,” Wells said.

“Those are just galvanizing type things for a young group in a young season.

“Today was this really positive, connecting day, where everybody had a different type of roll within the game to get a hard-fought win on the road.

“The guys were locked in this morning, we are changing every day, I’m learning from them, they are learning from me, but we are growing.

“These last two games are things that we can build on.”