Despite being well and truly warned in the pregame to be ready to play hard, the Ringwood Hawks did not bring their best on Saturday night and paid the price with a disappointing 8 point loss to second last placed Keilor Thunder.

With a top placed finish still up for grabs, the Hawks lackluster performance was uncharacteristic and could prove costly with only four games left in the season. The team that finishes on top will enjoy a home court advantage all the way through the Finals.

“That was not a good time for the guys to have their worst game of the year.” Hawks Coach Ken Harrington said.

“The loss means we will need to win the next 4 to finish on top and if we play like that, it won’t happen.”

The Hawks did have a chance to win the game and had possession of the ball with 25 seconds left, trailing by just one point. The Hawks missed a fairly easy shot and then fouled to stop the clock. The foul was inexplicably called an unsportsmanlike, which basically ended the Hawks chance of stealing the win. The rub salt in to the Hawks wounds, an attempt to steal the ball by import Scottie Stone was also called unsportsmanlike and he was ejected from the game.

The resulting foul shots and 2 technical fouls on the Hawks saw the Thunder close out the game by 8 points.

Next week the Hawks host the Blackburn Vikings on Saturday night before traveling to Geelong on Sunday to play the lowly Corio Bay Stingrays.

RINGWOOD HAWKS 94 (Stone 20, Gibson 19, Clarke 17) lost to KEILOR THUNDER 102 at Keilor Stadium.