With their team leading scorer Jacob Gibson again out of action, the Ringwood Hawks would need something special on Sunday against a very talented Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence team. And something special is exactly what they got in an impressive 7 point win at the Rings.

When they needed it the most, Hawks big man Adrien Sturt, stepped up in a big way and played his best game of the season.

Sturt started off on fire, nailing 16 points in the opening quarter and helped the Hawks build an early lead. The youngsters for Canberra though managed to work their way back in to the game, but the Hawks still enjoyed a 13 point lead at half time.

The Hawks relaxed in the third quarter and the COE took the opportunity to go on a scoring spree. They nailed 7 from 9 three pointers and the game was quickly up for grabs. The Hawks suddenly looked vulnerable.

Hawks Head Coach Ken Harrington did what he has done on so many occasions, turned to Matt Snow (12 assists) who kept opening up scoring opportunities for Sturt, Joey Miller and Matt Fennell.

The Hawks held firm and managed to close out their fifth win of the season.

“Adrien was amazing today.” Hawks Assistant Coach Damien Smith said.

“He knew we need a big scoring night from him, but to nail 42 points off just 18 shots was simply unheard of.”

The win was important as the Hawks have a very difficult road double header next week and have been down on confidence. The win will hopefully put the Hawks in a strong position for couple of wins this weekend with or without Gibson in the line up.

Next Saturday night the Hawks travel to local rivals, the Nunawading Spectres, for the NBL1 Game of the week and will then travel to the State Basketball Centre on Sunday to face the Knox Raiders.

RINGWOOD 101 (Sturt 42, Miller 20, Fennell 17, Snow 8, Clarke 7, Latham 7) defeated BA CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE 94 (Bannan 26, Glover 21)

Watch a replay of the men's win here.