Hawks GIO's Dale Menzies drives for the basket under pressure from Demons Celtics' Nathan Lemke.

HAWKS GIO star Kevin Hinge says he was certain his team could fight back after Demons Celtics threatened to run away with Colac’s A Grade men’s basketball grand final.

The Hawks notched up their third straight grand final win in as many years, downing the favoured Celtics by one point in the dying minutes after trailing for the entire match.

The Celtics had opened up a 10-2 lead to kick off the A Grade men’s grand final, before Hinge and his men regrouped to stage the fightback.

“To be down early by six or eight points was pretty tough but the fightback really showed a lot of character from the boys I suppose,” Hinge said.

“I knew we’re a fighting team but when they started to get a run on – Nath Lemke and a few of their boys were starting to cut us up so as I said we needed to show a bit of character and that helped us back into the game,” he said.

The Celtics had an 18-13 lead at half time, with teenager Luke Hillman leading the way as the only player causing damage from long range.

Hinge said the frustration began to mount on the court as both teams’ defence kept the opposition from scoring.

“It just didn’t seem to be working for us, we were getting it inside the key but either the shots were going in or the extra pass wasn’t working which can get a bit frustrating,” he said.

“So in a way I sort of took it upon myself to try and get to the rim when I could and try and score a few points.”

Hinge earned the best-on-court award after netting a game-high eight second-half points and helping reduce the margin to one point with 1.5 minutes remaining.

Pressure mounted as the Celtics struggled to hit vital free throws – finishing the match at 42-per-cent accuracy from the line – but Hawks’ Joel Menzies failed to let the pressure get to him.

Menzies swished two free throws to give him team its first lead for the night and led to a memorable one-point upset.

“I think the finals experience definitely helped, it always does, you know not to panic whereas a young side would probably panic,” Hinge said.

“It was a real surprise to win the qualifying final against them but I suppose it gave us confidence for this game – it’s great to win another one,” he said.

• See the current edition of the Colac Herald for more stories about Colac’s basketball finals.