The disappointment of the last two weeks became a distant memory as the Ringwood Hawks bounced back to their ruthless best with a dominating performance against the Hume City Broncos on Saturday night.

The Hawks are well aware they are in a tight battle for a top two finish and were in no mood to mess around. Jacob Gibson (29 points) nailed the opening shot of the game, a deep three pointer, and then proceeded to hit three more in a row. Whilst the Broncos were trying to work themselves in to the game, the Hawks hit top gear.

With Gibson on fire, the Hawks quickly built a double figure lead. Mike McCahey (25 points) and Shaun Clarke (16 points and 16 rebounds) soon found their range and at quarter time it was a commanding 14 point lead to the visitors.

Trevor Latham (15 points and 7 rebounds) came off the bench in the second quarter and dominated the undersized Broncos around the basket. The Hawks rebounding advantage was the most staggering stat of the night, grabbing 53 to the Broncos miserable 25.

The last half of the game was pretty much a copy of the first. Ringwood’s shooting remained at a high level but the defensive effort from Mike McCahey drew the most praise from Coach Ken Harrington.

“Mike was battling back spasms and was struggling to be ready come game time.” Harrington said.

“Apart from his 25 points, Mike kept Mike Rose to just 6 points, an incredible effort against a seriously talented player.”

The Hawks cruised to a healthy and percentage building 32 point win which keeps them in the hunt for a top two finish with just 5 games to go.

“A top two finish will give us the best chance of getting back to the Championship series and that’s been our aim since pre-season.” Hawks import Jacob Gibson said.

“We hear about it on a weekly basis, but we have plenty of work to do.”

Next weekend the Hawks have a double header challenge with a trip to Geelong to play the Corio Bay Stingrays on Saturday noght before coming back home for a 2pm game on Sunday against the Hawthorn Magic.

RINGWOOD HAWKS 111 (Gibson 29, McCahey 25, Clarke 16. Latham 15, Fennell 11, Osborne 9) defeated Hume City Broncos 79 (Jeka 29) at Broadmeadows Stadium.