Dragons riding high

As the Dragons flexed their muscles against the Wollongong Hawks on Saturday, it was their tenth man who sparked them into action after playing just three minutes in their previous game.

Nathan Herbert came up big for the Dragons, exploding for 16 points (4-of-5 threes) in 25 quality minutes as South received a huge scoring punch for their bench.

"I tried to play ten and I did tonight, I only played nine against Gold Coast and I didn't play Herbert," South coach Brian Goorjian said.

"I thought tonight if I sat on him in the first half he might go to sleep on me, because it would have been too long (to wait)."

"So I tapped him and said I'm going to get you in early tonight, be ready."

Herbert responded by nailing a pair of jumpers to finish the first quarter and then hitting two more in the second term to help open up the game for South.

The young guard was perfect from the floor (4-of-4) in the first half with 10 points and continued to fire in the third after the Hawks dipped into the lead.

It was his best outing of the season, second only to his career high of 23 points he recorded as a rookie against Adelaide last year.

"He really played a great all-around game, so tonight we had contributions from ten," Goorjian said.

"I like the way the minutes are spread and again I just feel a great camaraderie and enjoyment being around them."

Cortez Groves anchored South with a game-high 25 points, also off the bench to help outscore Wollongong's reserves 62-34.

The former scoring champion is coming off the bench for the first time in his NBL career, which he explained is not an issue for him despite the attention the move has attracted.

"I get asked the question so many times, it doesn't really matter, I'm playing the same amount of minutes and I'm finishing the game and even if I don't we're a team we go ten deep," he said.

"It's like we've got two starting fives and whether I start or come off the bench I'm going do the same thing so it doesn't matter."