THE Perry Lakes Hawks gave up a 23-5 start but finished strongly to beat the South West Slammers by 22 points on Sunday to end their five-game losing streak and coach Charles Nix is confident they can build on it to book in a playoff berth.

The Hawks had lost their last five matches heading into Sunday's game against the Slammers at Bendat Basketball Centre, including on Friday night to the Stirling Senators and back in Week 13 to South West.

With the East Perth Eagles beating the Senators on Saturday night, Perry Lakes also fell out of the top eight meaning nothing but a win was required on Sunday.

And it was going to have to come without big man Jordan Hickert who hurt an ankle while in the middle of his best game of the season on Friday, but the Hawks came out of the blocks on fire opening up a 23-5 advantage.

However, the Slammers began to pick up the momentum to trail by just seven heading into half-time following a Corey Easley three, and then got to within a point with a flying start to the third quarter.

But a well-used timeout by Nix steadied things for the Hawks and they dominated the rest of the game to pull away to the 111-89 victory to improve to a 9-13 record on the season and return to eighth position with four matches remaining.

Nix was obviously happy with the way the Hawks began the game, but even more so the way they were able to regroup after the Slammers had all the momentum and pull away to the 22-point win.

"We were really happy with the way we started. We came out with some defensive intensity and we got a lot of stops in a row, but then we sort of went away from what was working from us," Nix said.

"Especially offensively we stopped moving the ball and started taking early shots, which allowed them to get out and run, and once any team in this league gets some confidence up they are difficult to stop.

"But we rallied together and definitely made the adjustments in that third quarter to pull back out again. We showed some real maturity and some resolve to be able to hold them off, and then to extend."

Nix felt the key was his players playing determined but by sticking to the way they want to play, while avoiding the desperate basketball which did creep in during the second quarter.

"Our focus is not to be desperate with how we play, but to be determined and stick to our process. I thought that for too big a patches in that second quarter we appeared desperate once they got a little run," he said.

"We had to take a deep breath and make sure we stuck to our plan, and once we did that we were really good. It was a really good mature way to approach it and we are making steps which is good. It was a really important game considering East Perth's win against Stirling so it put us back in eighth spot."

The disappointment out of the weekend for the Hawks was an ankle injury to Hickert, particularly after he had 17 points and six rebounds already to half-time on Friday, but Nix hopes he is back within a couple of weeks.

"He has had scans this week after he tweaked that ankle. We are hoping he's only out for a week or two. It was precautionary that he was on the crutches and everything on Sunday, but he wasn’t in a boot so we are pretty confident he will get back this season," Nix said.

"We just have to wait for the scans to tick every box and then we'll take it from there. He was playing his best game all year on Friday with 17 points to half-time, and he was really active defensively rebounding the ball so it was just unfortunate. Sometimes it happens just as you find some form."

The Hawks haven’t been able to get their best team on the court all firing together at any point this season, but Nix is confident Sunday's win can kick start a run for them to guarantee a playoff spot.

"Because we've had so much turnover player wise with Matt Sellers coming in and Bryton being out, then coming back in and now Jordie Hickert has hurt himself. It's been really hard to get some continuity," he said.

"But we feel with this group going forward if we can keep the same guys on for the next four games to close out the season we'll get the couple of wins we need to get into the playoffs. Every person involved in this league knows that as long as you make playoffs anything can happen from there."

Star import guard Bryton Hobbs has now played four games back from his wrist injury and after a scratchy return against the Perth Redbacks, he was looking much more like his old self on Sunday with 16 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and five steals even if his shot wasn’t falling.

"He is definitely progressing. He is a guy who plays at a different pace to everyone else and he really understands the tempo of the game, and timing and being able to get his teammates free," Nix said.

"He had seven assists in the first half on Sunday and he rebounded the ball well. His shot wasn’t on but he was still making things happen in other ways. He is improving every single game and we expect over these next four games that he's only going to get better."

Perry Lakes might have ended its losing run on Sunday but things don’t get any easier starting this Saturday night with a trip to Geraldton to face a Buccs team coming off a rare home loss to the Willetton Tigers.

The Hawks then finish away to the league-leading Cockburn Cougars, and at home to the Rockingham Flames and Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

After getting over Saturday night's clash with the Buccs, Nix knows that the clash with the Cougars could tell a lot about where their future lies in 2016.

"If we do make playoffs then we could possibly play against the Cougars so we want to make sure that we take some positive form against them into the playoffs, if we make it. We are looking forward to that challenge the next two weeks against two of the best teams in the league," he said.

"Then we follow that up against a Rockingham team that is highly regarded as well. The next three games for us will be vital and if we make finals we will definitely have earned it. It's a good test and that's why we are involved in the sport."

Life for Nix right now certainly is full on with the birth last week of his second child, daughter Indigo Rose. Combine that with a business and coaching a basketball team, and sleep is something he's not getting a lot of but he wouldn’t change a thing.

"I have to be extremely organised as you can imagine. I run a business from home which is fortunate for us that I'm able to be home a lot more than most dads. It's just about trying to catch up on sleep to be honest," Nix said.

"It was a middle of the night pregnancy so we went two days without sleep so we are trying to catch up now. I'm fortunate to have an amazing woman in my life so it's all good.

"It's an exciting time and it's scary as well because you want to give them the best opportunities in life. You start thinking about that as soon as they are born."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Sebpix Photography