Prather, White send Bullets to fourth

Isaac White set it up for the Brisbane Bullets and Casey Prather took over from there as they kept their impressive NBL form going thumping a lacklustre Adelaide 36ers 111-90 on the road on Christmas Eve.

White delivered 18 of his career-high 22 points in the first 12 minutes for the Bullets before Prather finished the game with another 36 as Brisbane scored the Adelaide Entertainment Centre win to go into Christmas in fourth spot.

While the Sixers were coming off a tough 20-point loss to the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Saturday, and were still without key guards DJ Vasiljevic and Sunday Dech, they have been a different team at home.

Another sold out crowd of 9457 greeted them on Christmas Eve too with them having given up almost 20 points fewer a game at home this season, but the Bullets' offence did as they pleased virtually all game.

Even without James Batemon who has had a 51-point game this season, Adelaide local White took advantage of his absence.

Earning a first career start in game 127, White already had 18 points by early in the second quarter and the Bullets held a slender lead through the first half.

They went into the half leading 51-48 and built on that through the third with Prather having 10 points in the first half and then 10 in five minutes of the third quarter.

Brisbane's lead was out to double-figures, and his 15 points for the term had the Bullets up eight going into the fourth.

Brisbane started the final quarter with an 7-1 run too on the way to the 21-point win to see them shoot up to fourth position at 9-8 with Prather finishing with 36 points and five assists with 7/12 from downtown.

White finished with his new career-high of 22 points too with Keandre Cook adding 24 points, three assists, three rebounds and three steals, and Tyrell Harrison 14 points and 14 rebounds.

There was a lot for Bullets coach Justin Schueller to continue to be proud about.

"The group's got a belief in themselves that we've been preaching keeping on doing the work, and it will go our way at some point in time," he said.

"We've been dealt a little bit of adversity over the last few rounds and it hasn’t changed anything in the group, and I'm really proud of Whitey for his first career start as a hometown kid.

"He came in and filled the void for JB which is big shoes to fill and I just love the resolve of this group, and how we're going about it as a collective."

Adelaide are now 7-10 having lost six of the last seven with Kendric Davis doing all he could once more with 32 points and eight assists.

He didn’t receive enough help with Montrezl Harrell ending up with 16 points and nine rebounds, Jarell Martin 14 points and five boards, and Isaac Humphries eight points and six rebounds.

First-year Sixers coach Mike Wells is searching for answers to his team's struggles of late.

"I just think that we've been fighting through some things and we've been a little shorthanded, but all those things sound like excuses to me," he said.

"We probably haven’t had everybody together or maybe longer, and the guys that are out there are trying really on some levels, and it's gotten really hard on some levels to stay connected when adversity hits."

After Adelaide started 5-2, Isaac White took over the contest having earned the start for the Bullets back in his hometown in the absence of James Batemon. He had nine early points and Brisbane were leading 14-11.

Montrezl Harrell and Jarell Martin landed three-pointers as well for the Sixers before quarter-time but a second triple from White just before the end of the term gave him 14 points in the first 10 minutes and Brisbane were leading 24-23.

White then scored four more points to start the second frame too but things remained tight the rest of the half.

Brisbane did open up the biggest lead of six points when Casey Prather completed the three-point play on his way to 10 first half points too, but Adelaide stayed in touch with Kendric Davis putting up 19 points and four assists, and Harrell 12 points and five rebounds.

That limited the Bullets lead to 51-48 at the half but Prather took over in the third quarter in spectacular fashion. His advantages in the four spot mean that if he is on a big like Martin or Harrell they can't get out to stop his outside shot, and he can also take them off the dribble.

He ended up putting 15 points on the board in the third quarter alone to lead the Bullets to the 78-70 advantage by three quarter-time with an impressive road win within touching distance.

The Bullets opened up the fourth quarter with threes to Keandre Cook and Prather before ending up going on a 9-0 run to break the game wide open to lead by 20 and end up winning by 21.

The Bullets are back home to play host to the league-leading Illawarra Hawks on Friday night while the Sixers remain at home to take on the Perth Wildcats on Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

ADELAIDE 36ERS 90 (Davis 32, Harrell 16, Martin 14)

BRISBANE BULLETS 111 (Prather 36, Cook 24, White 22)

BOX SCORE