High octane Bullets end United drought

Brisbane Bullets coach Justin Schueller wanted his team to run with Melbourne United and it created quite the Sunday NBL spectacle at John Cain Arena as his team made the statement with the eventual 122-114 victory.

The Bullets had lost their last 12 straight against United dating back to the NBL Cup in March 2021 coming into the Sunday match up with Schueller looking for his first win over Dean Vickerman after they were part of championship success with Melbourne.

Schueller had backed his team to play at the pace of United and he saw signs it could work even in a 17-point loss a month ago. They just had to keep going for 40 minutes and that's what they did on Sunday afternoon.

The teams couldn’t be separated after one at 28-28 or at half-time with the scores 57-57. The pace continued with the Bullets delivering 31 points to 30 in the third quarter.

Brisbane kept on going and a game breaking 13-4 run in the fourth quarter saw them end up leading by seven and the Bullets wrapped up the first win over United in 13 attempts to improve to 6-7.

The Bullets shot 64 per cent from the floor with 12/24 from three and 28/36 at the foul line to win despite taking 18 less field goals with four players all scoring in double-digits.

Casey Prather finished with 27 points, seven rebounds and four assists on 4/5 three-point shooting with Keandre Cook delivering 27 points, six boards and five assists, and James Batemon 25 points, four rebounds and four assists with 4/5 from downtown.

Tyrell Harrison was powerful inside with 25 points and six rebounds while captain Mitch Norton contributed 11 points, four boards and four assists.

It ends Melbourne's winning run at five as they remain in top spot at 12-5 with Ian Clark returning with 24 points and three assists in 23 minutes.

Jack White added 21 points and 10 rebounds, Rob Loe 19 points, six boards and four assists, Matthew Dellavedova 18 points and seven assists, and Shea Ili 18 points and six assists.

Rob Loe kept his hot shooting form going to start the game Melbourne with a pair of three balls and United did open up an eight-point lead during the first term.

Brisbane, though, finished off scoring 12 of the last 16 points with six of those to Casey Prather and by quarter-time the scores were all locked at 28-28 with the Bullets shooting at 64 per cent to 45 but United taking an extra six shots.

Neither team could make a significant break through the second quarter either with Melbourne leading by five after consecutive Matthew Dellavedova three balls, but Brisbane immediately responded with the next five points with four of those through Tyrell Harrison.

Harrison continued to do a power of work in the block and had 16 points to half-time for Brisbane with his team shooting 60 per cent, but Melbourne was also up to 54 by the break with 14 points each to Loe and Ian Clark with scores tied at 57-57.

No more than four points separated the two teams again in the third quarter but the tension was building with Dean Vickerman earning a tech foul as did his counterpart Justin Schueller in the first half.

Rocco Zikarsky was even given a technical for slamming the ball down but by the end of three it was the Bullets clinging to the 88-87 advantage on the back of 31 points to 30.

Prather and James Batemon landed three balls early in the fourth quarter to give the Bullets their biggest lead of five points but when Loe hit his third three soon after Melbourne had drawn level once more.

After five straight Melbourne points, Brisbane responded with the next seven to again be up five and another triple from Cook with just over three minutes left kept them up four.

Prather then hit from deep too having just earned a reprieve from his fifth foul and Brisbane had their game-high lead of seven with 2:49 to go, and from there closed the deal to win by eight.

The Bullets have a quick turnaround to hosting the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Thursday night while Melbourne has a top-of-the-table match up with the Illawarra Hawks back home on Friday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

MELBOURNE UNITED 114 (Clark 24, White 21, Loe 19)

BRISBANE BULLETS 122 (Prather 27, Cook 27, Batemon 25, Harrison 25)

BOX SCORE