MATCH REPORT: Phoenix suffer Throwdown loss at JCA

It was the Cole Anthony show in every possible way and he ended up being ejected but not before setting a new Throwdown record with 39 points and Melbourne United held on to beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix 102-95.

Melbourne did lead by as much as 25 points and were in control most of the way, but to the credit of South East Melbourne they kept fighting and got it all the way back to five points with 24 seconds to go.

That's when the drama skyrocketed when Anthony soared to grab a defensive rebound and was fouled by Nathan Sobey, but in his flailing made contact with his shoulder to Sobey.

That was determined to be a flagrant on Anthony meaning he was ejected after the earlier technical he had but there was just 7.4 seconds left by that point with both shooting free throws.

Joe Ingles made his for Melbourne, D'Shawn Schwartz missed his for South East Melbourne and the game was done.

It was already the third Throwdown encounter of NBL27 on Saturday night at John Cain Arena with the Phoenix attempting to win their first win and arrest a three-game slide including losing on the same floor to the Illawarra Hawks back on Wednesday.

Melbourne were also coming off a Thursday night loss in Adelaide and took control in the first half and led by 25 points at half-time with 10 three-pointers already including five of those to Anthony who had 27 points to his name.

South East Melbourne did go on an 11-0 run in the third quarter before Melbourne finished it with the last nine, but still the Phoenix never gave up the ghost after Jacob Chance emptied his United bench.

He had to go back to his stars and Melbourne did hold on for the win to improve to an 8-6 record with Anthony finishing with 39 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals on 15/24 field goal shooting along with 5/7 from deep and 4/5 at the stripe.

Sam Waardenburg added 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks, Josh Oduro 11 points, eight boards and two blocks, and Luke Travers nine points with seven rebounds and two assists.

The Phoenix are now 4-9, having lost four straight, with Sobey bouncing back from two points at half-time to finish with 23 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals.

D'Shawn Schwartz made all three three-point attempts on his way to 17 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists with Dash Daniels contributing 14 points and five assists, Yannis Morin 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, and Jordan Hunter 10 points and five boards.

The pressure was right on South East Melbourne to find something in the third Throwdown of NBL27, but that task got a whole lot harder with Melbourne opening up a 13-point lead in the first quarter.

The Phoenix at least took some momentum into quarter-time with a three from Akech Aliir, but Melbourne had controlled the first 10 minutes with 11/18 shooting from the field and 5/9 from deep including 12 points already from Cole Anthony.

United took even more control in the second half by piling on another 34 points on 13/24 shooting from the field and 5/13 from downtown on the way to leading 64-39 by half-time.

Anthony added another 15 points to have 27 by half-time including five three-pointers while Sam Waardenburg had chimed in with 13 points and six rebounds.

It was a horror first half at both ends from South East Melbourne not only conceding the 64 points but shooting just 36 per cent themselves with Nathan Sobey having just two points and both those came at the foul line.

The Phoenix did manage to work back into the contest in the third quarter with Sobey scoring 13 points including landing four triples and they went on an 11-0 scoring run to pick up the momentum and close within 10.

Melbourne, though, responded with the last nine points of the third quarter to be back up 19 by three quarter-time before holding out the Phoenix despite the dramatic finish for the eventual seven-point win.

The Phoenix now face another challenge at Spark Arena on Wednesday night where Skylar Mays could suit up for the New Zealand Breakers.

FULL TIME STATS

Sobey: 23p/6r/8a/4stl
Schwartz: 17p/3r/2a/3stl
Daniels: 14p/4r/5a
Morin: 10p/7r/2blk
Hunter: 10p/5r/1a
Aliir: 9p/1r/1stl
Krebs: 6p/4r/3a/3stl
Glover: 6p/4r/1a