Bullets fire again to overrun Phoenix

They were two of the form NBL teams coming into Round 12 and delivered a cracking Thursday night contest with the Brisbane Bullets taking charge in the final quarter to beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix 116-108.

When the two teams met earlier this season in Round 4 in Melbourne neither had won a game and both were just looking for a glimmer of hope.

It was a totally different story this time around with the Bullets fresh off two wins in Round 11 against Adelaide and Melbourne where they put up 224 points. The Phoenix arrived at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre having won seven of 10 since making their coaching change.

Throw in former Bullets captain Nathan Sobey returning to Brisbane for the first time with the Phoenix and it had all the makings of a terrific contest, and it delivered.

Owen Foxwell and Angus Glover helped the Phoenix to an 11-point lead early in the second quarter before they had that advantage going into half-time and then were up 15 with two layups to Sobey to open the second half.

However, Brisbane fired back to set up the thrilling second half contest and had their own five-point lead with seven minutes to play. They were just warming up with a couple more threes to Keandre Cook with Isaac White and James Batemon joining in for the eventual eight-point win.

It's three straight wins for the Bullets who improve to 7-7 shooting another 58 per cent and going 13/28 from deep with Cook delivering 33 points with 5/8 from downtown.

Tyrell Harrison had another 23 points and 12 rebounds, James Batemon 16 points and three assists, Casey Prather 16 points and six boards, Isaac White 13 points and two rebounds, and Tohi Smith-Milner eight points, four boards, three assists and three steals.

Bullets coach Justin Schueller still saw things to not like, but was delighted to get the win.

"There's still a lot in that game I don't like and that's the positive right now weirdly is that there's still so much growth we've got to go, and we are in this position right now," he said.

"I'm pleased for the guys to get three in-a-row but we're still hungry and we don't want this thing to stop, but there's definitely a connectivity in this group that when we play the right way and share the ball, and have each other's back defensively, we feel like we can do something special."

The Phoenix are now 7-9 with the defeat after leading by 15 early in the second half despite shooting 59 per cent with Matt Hurt delivering another 27 points and five rebounds on 11/14 shooting.

Sobey had 25 points, five assists and four rebounds on his Brisbane return with Owen Foxwell producing another 20 points and five assists, and Angus Glover 20 points and seven assists.

Phoenix coach Josh King didn't hide what he thought of his team's defensive second half performance.

"I'm always frustrated when we lose a game but Brisbane just thoroughly beat us badly in the second half and 68 points is really embarrassing," he said.

"We forced 12 turnovers in the first half and we forced two in the second, and it's just about defensive discipline and you're not going to win games giving up 116 points and 68 in the second half.

"We've got to be better and it is frustrating, but onto the next one."

Both teams came into the match up in impressive form and the Bullets started well at home with a 7-2 opening courtesy of James Batemon and Tyrell Harrison.

South East Melbourne responded with six of the next eight points before Nathan Sobey got rolling in his former home town with 11 points in quick succession to put his new team up five.

The Phoenix then blew the game open just before quarter-time with a 13-2 run on the back of six points on two triples from Angus Glover and the rest from Owen Foxwell including a three ball.

That saw South East Melbourne leading 34-26 by quarter-time and once again the Phoenix pushed away to close the second period.

Matt Hurt scored their last six points including a tip-in after a missed Sobey layup at the buzzer and the Phoenix went into the break leading 59-48.

Sobey got to the rack all too easily twice to open the second half with the Phoenix lead growing to 15, but then the Bullets responded with their own 10-0 run that included triples from Casey Prather and Mitch Norton.

Brisbane went on another 7-0 run starting with Prather hitting another three ball and scores were level, but South East Melbourne responded once more and were back up eight when Hurt completed an and-one.

The momentum swings continued with Brisbane in front by a point after a Tohi Smith-Milner steal and breakaway layup, but then Sobey ensured the Phoenix were up one by three quarter-time.

Triples to Prather and Keandre Cook, and a three-point play from Smith-Milner had the home team leading by five with seven and-a-half minutes to go, and the Bullets had the momentum in their favour.

Cook hit his fourth three of the game to make the lead six soon after before Glover's frustrations spilled over leading to a tech foul with Brisbane capitalising to lead by seven.

White and Cook then hit huge threes and suddenly Brisbane's lead was in double-figures and they went on to win by eight to make it three in-a-row for the first time in NBL25.

Both teams back up to play on Sunday to wrap up Round 12 with the Phoenix first up with a Throwdown against Melbourne United before the Bullets are away to the Sydney Kings.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

BRISBANE BULLETS 116 (Cook 33, Harrison 23, Batemon 16)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 108 (Hurt 27, Sobey 25, Glover 20, Foxwell 20)

BOX SCORE