South East Melbourne Phoenix proceed to seek out methods to win with their season on the road after defeating Cairns Taipans 85-80 to report their third victory on the trot and preserve their place contained in the NBL’s prime six.
A run of 13 unanswered factors within the fourth quarter of Wednesday night time’s essential conflict at Melbourne’s State Basketball Centre noticed the Phoenix grind out their fifteenth win of the season and inch nearer in direction of securing a spot within the league’s inaugural Play-In Tournament.
South East Melbourne fought again from a 10-point deficit within the opening quarter to edge forward 44-43 at half-time and appeared to grab management of the sport with a flying begin to the third quarter, however the guests fought again to arrange an exciting end.
Cairns held a three-point lead halfway via the ultimate interval however a mix of careless ballhandling and determined Phoenix defence resulted in six Taipans turnovers in a horror two-minute stretch as the house aspect constructed a decisive 81-71 benefit.
Mitch Creek paced the Phoenix with 21 factors, Allan Williams added 17 factors and 13 rebounds, whereas Trey Kell III earned the reward of coach Simon Mitchell after stepping up within the absence of injured swingman Ryan Broekhoff with a 17-point haul.
“It was really important for him to hunt his offence a little bit more and that’s the one thing (Broekhoff) has been doing wonderfully well the last probably five games,” Mitchell stated concerning the American-born ahead’s influence on the sport.
“He has found ways to become a scorer instead of a shooter and hunting ways to get on the basket.”
The consequence sees South East Melbourne (15-12) transfer into fifth spot forward of Perth (13-11) and Melbourne United (14-12) with the chance to lock in a Play-In berth with a victory over ladder-leaders Sydney on Sunday.
Cairns took benefit of early foul hassle for Williams as they skipped out to a 24-14 lead, DJ Hogg sparking the Taipans on his method to 10 first-quarter factors whereas Ben Ayre’s disruptive defence brought on frustrations for the house aspect.
But South East Melbourne prevented Cairns from scoring within the ultimate two minutes of the opening time period to trim the margin to 5 factors and Gary Browne added seven factors early within the second quarter to assist the Phoenix seize their first lead of the sport.
The Taipans recovered from a 10-point gap within the third quarter however misplaced star massive man Keanu Pinder to a nasty eye damage earlier than unravelling at an important stage of the ultimate stanza.
While Cairns (16-9) stay in second spot on the ladder, the defeat opens the door for New Zealand (14-10) to problem for the assured semi-final place alongside the defending champion Kings.
