Even after Illawarra hit the last six points of the final quarter to tie things up again, Perth continued to have all the answers, with Doolittle the major difference as he led the Cats to a hard-earned seven-point road win.
On top of Doolittle’s 26 points, five rebounds and five assists on 10-of-13 shooting, fellow import Dylan Windler had 22 points, five boards and five assists while shooting 9-of-13.
Emerging back-court player Elijah Pepper (19 points, four steals) and Ben Henshall (17 points, nine rebounds, six assists) were important too, as was centre Jo Lual-Acuil Jr with 14 points, four rebounds and two blocks.
QJ Peterson finished with 22 points, six assists and five rebounds for the Hawks, who face a challenge to finish sixth.
JaVale McGee contributed 18 points and 11 rebounds, Tyler Harvey had 13 points, Wani Swaka Lo Buluk contributed 12 points and five rebounds, and Sam Froling amassed 12 points and seven boards.
Hawks coach Justin Tatum felt his team shot themselves in the foot in the second half.
“I’m a little disappointed and felt that we should have given four quarters worth of effort instead of two, but I tip my hat off to Perth,” he said.
“We stopped believing in our scout and our guys just went away from it. We’ve got to stick with what’s been working for us.”
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