MATCH REPORT: United stun Phoenix in tight Fire Pit clash

Josh Oduro was a dominant presence inside and Sam Waardenburg came up huge in the fourth quarter for Melbourne United to battle back from an early 15-point deficit to beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix 104-99.

It was the second Throwdown already of NBL27 at John Cain Arena with Melbourne having won the first encounter 86-61, but the Phoenix came out soaring on Saturday night to open up a 15-point first half lead.

They were shooting 7/15 to 1/10 from beyond the arc to still be up eight at half-time, but Melbourne took charge the longer the game went with their front court pair of Oduro and Waardenburg, along with the cool heads of Joe Ingles, Luke Travers and Cole Anthony proving match winning.

Having struggled for much offensive impact so far this season having joined United, Waardenburg found his groove in the fourth quarter with eight of his 10 points for the game.

Melbourne outscored the Phoenix 59-46 in the second half for the five-point win to steady their season at 3-3.

Oduro was a monster inside for United all night to end up with 21 points, 10 rebounds, four steals, four blocks and two assists on 6/11 shooting from the field and 9/13 at the stripe.

Travers had a huge performance too with 24 points, four assists, three rebounds, two steals and two blocks with Anthony providing 18 points, seven assists, six boards and two steals.

Malith Machar added 13 points on 4/4 shooting having made the start with Ingles chiming in with nine points, five rebounds and three assists.

The Phoenix are now 2-4 and ended up shooting 5/24 from three-point range in the second half while having 17 turnovers for the night unable to capitalise on their 19 offensive rebounds.

Nathan Sobey top scored with 24 points on 5/12 three-point shooting but did have six turnovers with D'Shawn Schwartz ending up with 19 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Skylar Mays added 15 points, seven assists and four rebounds, Angus Glover 12 points, five boards and three assists, and Yannis Morin nine points and four rebounds.

Following the thrashing they copped in the Throwdown just a couple of weeks earlier, the Phoenix came out on a mission and put up 30 points in the first quarter on the back of shooting 5/9 from the outside.

That included import pair D'Shawn Schwartz and Skylar Mays combining to go 3/3 and have 13 points between them while Melbourne were shooting just 6/17 with five turnovers.

South East Melbourne built a lead of up to 15 points before United worked their way back into the contest and put up 28 points in the second term.

That cut the Phoenix advantage to 53-45 by half-time with Nathan Sobey up to 12 points while he, Schwartz and Mays combined to be shooting 6/7 from beyond the arc.

But United worked back into the contest with six offensive rebounds in the second period and going 10/17 at the foul line with Cole Anthony up to 12 points with four assists and three rebounds, and Josh Oduro 11 points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

Melbourne then continued to build momentum in the third quarter and even found themselves in front before scores were locked at 74-74 by three quarter-time.

Yannis Morin made his first NBL three-pointer midway through the fourth quarter to put South East Melbourne back up two but Sam Waardenburg responded in kind for United.

He completed a three-point play before Luke Travers drained a three ball and Oduro scored again inside for Melbourne to suddenly be up seven with just under four minutes on the clock.

Waardenburg completed the alley-oop finish on the pass from Oduro inside the last two minutes to keep Melbourne up six before securing the five-point win.

The Phoenix now prepare for a double-header in Round 5 starting in Brisbane on Thursday night before hosting the Cairns Taipans on Saturday.

FULL TIME STATS

Sobey: 24p/1r/2a/1stl
Schwartz: 19p/3r/3a/2stl
Mays: 15p/4r/7a
Glover: 12p/5r/3a
Morin: 9p/4r/1stl/1blk
Hunter: 7p/4r/1stl
Daniels: 6p/5r/1stl
Krebs: 5p/6r/1a/3stl
Aliir: 2p/2r/2a/1stl