Illawarra Hawks 81

THE Griffith Demons showed they were still a force to be reckoned with on Saturday as they dominated the Illawarra Hawks by a close but decisive 84-81 margin.

Leading at half-time 47-39, the Demons kept the Hawks on the defence as they powered through the third quarter coming into the fourth with a 20-point lead.

"We were the dominating team for more than three quarters of the game," Demons captain-coach Andrew Cullen said.

"We were working our way down the side well and Adam and Leon were working their backsides off in the defence."

But against a 12-man side the Demons couldn't keep up the pace and the Hawks closed the gap in the fourth quarter.

"We were getting a little bit tired, it was a bigger court than what we were used to and we only had an eight-man side," Cullen said.

"The way the refs called the game let them handle us pretty heavily in the fourth quarter, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Every time we turned around it seemed they were at the free-throw line."

With the Hawks gaining momentum the Demons were hard-pressed to make a comeback, unable to get in position to net any outside shots.

"Their defence was pretty good, we weren't missing any but we just couldn't get into position," Cullen said.

But the Hawks were unable to secure the final throw to tie the game and bring it into overtime.

"It was three seconds before the end and they had a shot," Cullen said.

"They had a chance but they missed it, that's the way the game goes."

Despite a flailing fourth quarter, Cullen said he was happy with his team's performance, especially playing in front of a Wollongong crowd.

"The momentum went their way and to our credit we still did well to survive it as a team that gains that sort of momentum in front of their home crowd is hard to last out, especially a team as good as this," Cullen said.

"But everybody was really good, we made no errors; we're where we want to be."

While the Demons came out on top this time Cullen said going up against "possibly the second best team in the league" forced them to change tactics during play.