Sydney maintained its recent dominance over Wollongong and consolidated its top four NBL spot with a hard fought 95-90 win over the Hawks at Sydney Entertainment Centre.

Wollongong trailed by 16 points early in the second quarter, but fought back tenaciously to twice lead by a point in the final four minutes.

The Kings only clinched their eighth straight win over Wollongong in the final minute.

With Sydney up by just two, guard Luke Kendall hit a three-pointer and centre Ian Crosswhite two free throws to give the home team an unassailable seven-point break.

It was Wollongong's fifth straight loss and the fourth in a row for new coach Eric Cooks.

Sydney gave new import centre, 210cm Jerome Beasley, an NBL debut but the former Miami Heat NBA player struggled with his shooting.

Beasley finished with just two points and made just one of eight field goal attempts in just over 13 minutes on court, though his hustle earned him plenty of support from the Sydney fans.

Instead it was Sydney's middlemen that did most of the damage, although the Kings other import, guard Ed Scott, was dynamic for the home team, tallying 19 points.

Mark Worthington also scored 19 and pulled down 14 rebounds for Sydney, while guard and skipper Jason Smith contributed 16 points, including some big shots.

After seven lead changes in the first seven minutes, Sydney grabbed control with a 17-0 run and led 34-18 at the first change.

Big man Adam Ballinger, who finished joint game-high scorer with teammate and guard Cortes Groves on 25, hauled the Hawks back into the contest.

The 205cm American import was the only Hawk to notch a field goal in eight minutes either side of the first break and had netted all eight of his shots by halftime when Sydney held a 55-44 advantage.

Ballinger supplemented his scoring with 11 rebounds.

Wollongong made further inroads into the gap after the resumption and trailed by only four at the last break.

Sydney coach Brian Goorjian admitted he had taken a "huge gamble" by bringing in Beasley, who he described as "the biggest baddest thing in the jungle".

He revealed he had arranged a special one-on-one training session with the giant American for Sunday and said Beasley was prepared to put in the work.

"It has to work, so while we're going through the process, a win like this is huge," said Goorjian, who estimated Beasley was around a month away from getting into top condition.

"I think he can give us 15 (points) and eight (rebounds) during that and then hopefully something special down the stretch, but he's got a month of hard work to get him in that shape."

Cooks said he felt like he was going through Groundhog Day as the Hawks had made a habit of fighting back and losing narrowly after a tardy start.

"Each game we keep fighting on and get ourselves in a position to win, it's just taking that next step and actually winning," Cooks said.

"I think executing down the stretch is an area we need to address."

Goorjian said he expected injured forward Brad Sheridan would miss one more game with a strained Achilles tendon.

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