Phoenix rising with thumping home win

The mighty impressive resurgence of the South East Melbourne Phoenix has continued as they claimed another scalp on Sunday afternoon with the 100-76 home victory against the Perth Wildcats.

Both teams were coming off impressive Friday night victories with the Phoenix winning their first game under new coach Josh King in Launceston over the Tasmania JackJumpers while the Wildcats won at home against the then league-leading Illawarra Hawks.

It was a first home game at John Cain Arena for King on Sunday afternoon and his team shot out of the blocks with 35 points in the first quarter with gun scoring power forward Matt Hurt scoring 14 of those.

Hurt would only score three points the rest of the afternoon in the final quarter, but the rest of his Phoenix teammates stepped up to end up leading by as much as 27 on the way to the 24-point win.

It continues the stunning rejuvenation of the Phoenix since parting ways with coach Mike Kelly. In the five games since, they have beaten the top two teams, Melbourne and New Zealand, and the defending champions Tasmania and now a Perth team coming off two impressive wins.

Not only have South East Melbourne been winning, but it was by a margin of 26 points over New Zealand and 24 over Perth so things are clicking firstly in the three games under Sam Mackinnon, and now the last two with King in charge.

The Phoenix shot 50 per cent from the field for the game with Nathan Sobey top-scoring with 20 points to go with five rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots with Angus Glover adding 17 points on 3/6 three-point shooting.

Next Star Malique Lewis continues to grow with another 10 points and six rebounds while Owen Foxwell was back for 10 points, three boards and three steals.

Sobey said the Phoenix were finally fulfilling their potential after significant roster turnover in the off-season.

"Bringing eight new guys into a team is never easy and for us to kind of figure out how we play with each other, what works best on both ends of the floor, probably took a bit longer than we thought," he said.

"We're really starting to see what our strengths are and how we can keep getting those guys in the right spots to make those plays."

It was a tough outing for a Wildcats team again without Bryce Cotton for a third straight game with Dylan Windler also out on an afternoon they were celebrating six-time championship winning captain Jesse Wagstaff becoming their games record holder.

"First half, I liked the pace and the flow of the game but we didn't respect the little things within the game to allow us to regain some momentum, and they capitalised," said Wildcats coach John Rillie.

Elijah Pepper finished with 17 points on 4/9 three-point shooting but it was tough going for the rest of the team who ended up shooting 36 per cent as a whole and went 7/22 from downtown without Pepper's contribution.

On the back of Friday's win in Launceston over the JackJumpers, the Phoenix shot right out of the blocks back home on Sunday putting up 35 points in the opening quarter against the Wildcats.

Hurt knocked down all six of his shot attempts for 14 points in that opening period with his team going at 73 per cent from the field with 5/9 from deep.

The Wildcats were down 12 after one but did knockdown five three-pointers themselves despite shooting overall at 40 per cent.

The two teams only combined for the 40 points in the second quarter after 58 in the first, but the 'Cats did stay in touch to outscore the Phoenix 21 to 19 to cut their half-time advantage to 54-44.

Hurt didn’t add to his first quarter scoring but co-captain Nathan Sobey along with Next Star Malique Lewis had 10 points each going into the half while the 'Cats had 10 points from Elijah Pepper again as they stayed in touch despite shooting at just 36 per cent.

The Phoenix pulled away again in the third quarter with another 27 points to 16 and that lead blew out to as much as 27 in the second half.

There was a brief flurry from the Wildcats early in the fourth quarter to get back within 15 to draw the ire of South East Melbourne coach Josh King, but his team steadied and went on to score a first 'home' win of the season, winning by 24.

The Wildcats are back home on Thursday night to play host to the Tasmania JackJumpers before the Phoenix are on the road to the Sydney Kings on Friday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 100 (Sobey 20, Hurt 17, Glover 17)

PERTH WILDCATS 76 (Pepper 17, Pinder 11, Doolittle 11)

BOX SCORE