Brendan Joyce's return to Wollongong ended with a smile after his Gold Coast Blaze scored a crushing 115-82 NBL win over the Hawks at WIN Entertainment Centre.

James Harvey topscored for the Blaze with 28 points in a match that was always going to be about the returning Gold Coast coach.

After coaching Wollongong to the club's first and only championship during a 12-year reign, Joyce was unceremoniously sacked two days before Christmas last year for "unsatisfactory behaviour and offensive language" while standing courtside during matches.

However, he was all smiles courtside as his Blaze had the last laugh over the Hawks with a dominant victory.

The Gold Coast improved to 9-7 to cement their position inside the top eight while Wollongong suffered their sixth straight loss to be 3-11 and cemented 12th on the table.

The Blaze raced out to an early lead with Harvey netting 25 first-half points as Gold Coast shot a respectable 57 per cent from the field to lead 60-42 at halftime.

The Hawks, who hadn't played in almost two weeks, were rusty and outclassed by a team that looks set to mount a finals challenge in their first season in the league.

The lead was out to 31 points midway through the term after Harvey and import Jason Crowe nailed back-to-back three-pointers.

The final quarter was a formality, with a malfunctioning shot-clock delaying the inevitable.

Kavossy Franklin finished with 19 points to topscore for the Hawks while forward Larry Davidson had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Joyce was thrilled with the win.

"It was a huge surprise to win by that many points," he said.

"We are a serious threat to make the play-offs this year."

When asked how many more wins his side would need to achieve that goal, Joyce was forthright in his answer.

"To make it safe you need 16 (wins), that will definitely get you in," said Joyce.

"Fifteen may make it as may 14."

Hawks coach Eric Cooks was a despondent figure after the match.

"We didn't want it bad enough, we weren't physical enough, they took us out of what we wanted to run far too easily, we didn't play as a team," said Cooks.

"We went individual once things got tough."

The Hawks (3-11) are at home again on Wednesday night against fellow strugglers Singapore Slingers.

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