Phoenix get crucial road win in Cairns

One team had it all to play for and the other was out to be spoilers with the end result a high paced, high scoring affair with the South East Melbourne Phoenix getting the much-needed 113-102 win over the Cairns Taipans.

While the Phoenix did threaten right throughout the evening at Cairns Convention Centre to break the game open, the Snakes continued to hit back to create for quite the entertaining contest.

South East Melbourne arrived in Far North Queensland sitting fifth having won seven of the last nine but after Saturday's win over Brisbane in Traralgon, they lost Derrick Walton Jr for the rest of the regular season with another hamstring injury.

The Taipans have been playing significantly better since New Year's Eve and snapped their 15-game losing streak beating the league-leading Illawarra Hawks, and were hunting another scalp.

The teams combined for 61 points in the first quarter with South East Melbourne up five by quarter-time.

Even with that lead getting out to 11 in the second, Cairns were leading 59-58 by the half with 59 per cent shooting as they overcame the 18 offensive rebounds from the Phoenix of which 11 were by Jordan Hunter.

It wasn’t until midway through the fourth quarter when Nathan Sobey gave the Phoenix the match winning edge for the crucial 11-point road win.

The Phoenix had those 18 offensive rebounds in the first half and finished the game with 21 for 25 second chance points while winning the battle of the glass overall 53 to 35.

That helped South East Melbourne take 12 extra field goals and four more free-throws with Matt Hurt setting a new NBL high with 33 points and seven rebounds on 14/18 shooting.

Sobey had 26 points and seven rebounds with Joe Wieskamp adding 11 points and nine boards, Angus Glover 11 points and four assists, and Hunter eight points and 18 rebounds of which 12 were offensive.

"It's a tough situation but we have to still play the games and move on and I'm really proud of the guys who stepped up tonight," Phoenix coach Josh King said.

"Now we're being chased; for a long part of the season we've been chasing everybody and that's the new challenge we're facing.

"We had to win that one to keep up with the pace."

It was another brave showing from the bottom placed Taipans with Sam Waardenburg delivering 22 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Taran Armstrong added 20 points and six assists, Pedro Bradshaw 16 points, five rebounds and three steals, Rob Edwards 13 points and four assists, and Tanner Groves 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

"I really enjoy playing with this team," said Armstrong after the game.

"Tonight was competitive, but there wasn't that grit. It was just free flowing and we need to sort something out there.

"It's been the story all year ... we haven't found ways to get stops when we need to."

The Taipans led 14-9 after Tanner Groves completed a three-point play before the Phoenix scored 15 of the next 19 points including a pair of three balls to Joe Wieskamp.

South East Melbourne ended up leading 33-28 after a high octane opening term from both teams with the Phoenix shooting at 54 per cent and the Taipans at 55 with the visitors' imports Matt Hurt and Wieskamp combining for 18 points in the absence of Derrick Walton Jr.

South East Melbourne threatened to blow the game open early in the second quarter after a pair of three-pointers to Nathan Sobey and then another to Wieskamp as the lead got out to double-figures.

Snakes coach Adam Forde challenged his team to lift their effort and it worked for the rest of the half.

After the Phoenix were still leading by nine with 4:30 to go, the Taipans outscored them 13 points to three the rest of the half to go into the break leading 59-58.

Cairns managed to lead too despite giving up 11 offensive rebounds alone to Jordan Hunter with South East Melbourne having 18 o-boards to three.

The Snakes had 17 assists for the half and were shooting at 59 per cent while the Phoenix had slipped to shooting at 43 per cent but 20 second chance points kept them close.

It remained a tight affair through most of the third quarter and just as South East Melbourne again built some momentum with a 7-0 run to lead by seven, Cairns answered with five of the last seven points of the term to be down just four.

It was Hurt and Sobey the two players refusing to let the Phoenix lose and they helped get the lead out to double-figures in the fourth quarter ahead of wrapping up the 11-point win.

The Taipans are back in action on Friday night in a Sunshine Stoush battle with the Bullets in Brisbane while the Phoenix play their first game of NBL25 at the State Basketball Centre against the New Zealand Breakers on Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

CAIRNS TAIPANS 102 (Waardenburg 22, Armstrong 20, Bradshaw 16)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 113 (Hurt 33, Sobey 26, Glover 11, Wieskamp 11)

BOX SCORE