A powerful performance by Cortez Groves has ruined the South Dragons' first match at home as the Wollongong Hawks downed the Philips Championship's newest club 102-93 at Vodafone Arena on Saturday night.

Groves was instrumental to the Hawks' win, combining with Adam Ballinger to wrest the early lead back from the Dragons, then arresting a last-quarter slump with some important plays to get Wollongong home.

The Dragons led by as much as eight points in the first term but the Hawks made their move in the second and were at one stage 12 points clear in the third quarter before the Dragons fought back to level the scores early in a thrilling final term.

Groves finished up with a game-high 30 points, 15 of which came in a brilliant second term, while Ballinger ended with 21 points and 11 boards.

For the Dragons, Kavossy Franklin and Todd Fuller landed 19 points apiece, the latter complementing his haul with nine rebounds, while Jacob Holmes and Matt Shanahan scored 14 each.

After an even start, the Dragons controlled proceedings during the first quarter and twice drew out to handy breaks.

They led 15-9 after Shanahan sank a long-bomb from outside the perimeter but Ballinger, who had a game-high 10 points in the opening term, sparked a Wollongong revival, scoring his team's next seven points to reduce the margin back to just one.

Buckets to Holmes, Drmic and some cool shooting from the charity stripe by Franklin saw the home side skip to a 24-16 break approaching the buzzer.

A three-pointer by Daniel Joyce helped the Hawks narrow the margin to two before Shane Heal, playing his first game of the season, netted for a 29-25 lead at quarter-time.

While Ballinger was held scoreless by Holmes in the second, it was Groves who stepped up to inflict the damage on the league's newest franchise.

Groves was in brilliant touch, sinking 15 points in an outstanding quarter during which he also made Heal look foolish when he dispossessed the veteran in mid-court before making a regulation basket.

His dominance allowed the Hawks to unleash a 15-2 burst as they skipped away to a 46-39 lead midway through the second but the Dragons hit back through Franklin, the 188cm guard from Texas scoring from long range to make it a 49-51 game at half-time.

Groves continued his strong form in the third, firing eight points early, and when Casey Frank nailed a three-point play the Hawks held an 11-point lead (57-68), the biggest of the game thus far.

"Right now the third quarter has not been kind to us so far. We have to remedy that somehow. I'll just tell the guys we've got to get back to work on Monday and keep working till we get this thing going," said Dragons coach Mark Price.

Tony Rampton's three stretched the advantage to 12 before a three-point play by Heal gave the Dragons hope of securing their first win approaching the last term (68-77).

A maiden victory became a distinct possibility when the Dragons launched a withering 12-3 run to level the scores midway through the term.

Holmes landed the Dragons' opening five points of the last term, including a treble within the opening 20 seconds, and when Heal pipped the shot clock scores were locked at 80-80.

Ballinger lifted his team with seven points but Shanahan kept the Dragons in the contest with a pair of trebles before Groves showed character from the free-throw line to give the Hawks a 92-88 buffer.

Saville and Groves then combined for an alley-oop before Campbell all but sealed the win with a long-range rocket to make it an eight-point game with 2:34 remaining.

"I think the guys showed they're in great condition to play the way they finished the game today and now we want get home and get a win on Monday night against New Zealand," said Hawks coach Brendan Joyce.

Price said the Dragons would have to work hard on the training track in order to find their first win in the NBL.

"No one said it was going to be easy. I told the guys no one's going to give us our first game. We're going to have to go out and earn it, take it," he said.

The Hawks have two home games next round, starting on Monday with a clash against New Zealand before hosting Brisbane on Friday night.

The Dragons head to Singapore for a Wednesday night engagement before taking on cross-town rival Melbourne at home on next Sunday.

Wollongong Hawks 102 (Groves 30, Ballinger 21, Campbell 15)
South Dragons 93 (Franklin 19, Fuller 19, Holmes 14, Shanahan 14)
@ Vodafone Arena, Melbourne 14/10/2006