Maldonado fires for Phoenix in Perth

There was some late drama with the ejection of Vrenz Bleijenbergh but there was a lot to like from the South East Melbourne Phoenix especially defensively, while Hunter Maldonado got rolling in the 90-75 win against the Ryukyu Golden Kings.

Both the Phoenix and Golden Kings from Japan are part of the four-team International Series at Perth High Performance Centre across this weekend with the Perth Wildcats and Sunrockers Shibuya also involved.

It's a return to the scene of last season's finals match up for the Phoenix against the Wildcats too when RAC Arena was unavailable as they gear up for their NBL26 campaign that begins next Saturday night.

South East Melbourne had their full roster available and there was plenty to like in particular how their pressure defence worked and held their Japanese opponents to 49 points in the opening 30 minutes, and 75 for the game.

There was still some late drama when new import forward Vrenz Bleijenbergh was ejected for his reaction to the referee with a call he didn’t like with three minutes to play.

The positives far outweighed that, though, including the Phoenix racing out to a 26-12 lead already by quarter-time on the back of shooting 56 per cent to 27 along with making 6/9 from behind the three-point arc to 0/7 from Ryukyu.

South East Melbourne were still leading 51-33 by half-time while shooting 50 per cent overall and 57 per cent from deep opposed to the 37 per cent from the field for the Golden Kings who were 4/15 from downtown.

It was another 21 points to 16 in the third quarter from the Phoenix but with the benches emptied a little in the fourth quarter, the Golden Kings did manage 26 points to cut the South East Melbourne win to 15 points.

Hunter Maldonado came off the bench for South East Melbourne with Owen Foxwell the starting point guard, but the import starred in 19 minutes with 18 points and seven rebounds with 2/3 three-point shooting.

Foxwell shone as well in the starting role with 18 points, five assists and four rebounds with shooting 3/4 from downtown with Next Star Malique Lewis contributing 11 points, three boards and three steals.

Nathan Sobey also had nine points with 3/6 three-point shooting while John Brown III ended up with nine points and two assists, Gorjok Gak eight points, five rebounds and two steals, and Angus Glover five points and three assists.

Former Brisbane Bullets and Perth Wildcats NBL forward Vic Law top-scored for the Golden Kings with 11 points to go with six rebounds and four assists with Shuto Sakihama contributing 11 points on perfect 4/4 shooting, and Jack Cooley 10 points, seven rebounds and two assists.

The Phoenix will remain in Perth to play Sunrockers Shibuya on Sunday afternoon before turning their attention to opening their NBL26 at home to the Cairns Taipans next Saturday night at John Cain Arena.

FULL TIME STATS

Maldonado: 18p/7r/1stl
Foxwell: 18p/4r/5a/1stl
Lewis: 11p/3r/1a/3stls/1blk
Brown III: 9p/1r/2a
Sobey: 9p/2r/2a/1stl
Gak: 8p/5r/2stls
Glover: 5p/3a/1blk
Bleijenbergh: 5p/3r/2a/1stl
Hunter: 5p/3r/2a
Mitchell: 2p/3r/2a
Biggar: 5r
Ryan: 1a

Get your tickets to Phoenix's home opener against the Cairns Taipans on September 20 at John Cain Arena. CLICK HERE to secure your seats.