Musashi Match Report: Phoenix Claim Throwdown IX

The South East Melbourne Phoenix have taken a giant leap towards locking in their first ever NBL playoffs appearance with an emphatic 94-83 Throwdown win over Melbourne United on Sunday.

The Phoenix broke the game open late in the third quarter and to start the fourth term including a huge three-point play and a foul from dynamic point guard Keifer Sykes.

They went on a 13-2 run ultimately either side of three quarter-time and then held firm down the stretch to hold out their crosstown rivals and score a third straight victory that strengthens their hold on a top four position.

South East Melbourne improves to a 17-14 record on the season as a result of the win to remain clear in third position and now with Sykes back to run the point and with plenty of help around him, they look capable of being a serious challenge come finals time to Melbourne and the Perth Wildcats.

Melbourne wasn’t quite able to back up Thursday's win in Perth and they did look tired on the back of that hard fought contest, and the trip west but they remain on top spot at 23-7.

Despite a couple of early threes for Melbourne from Sam McDaniel, it was South East Melbourne who led a first-half high of five points at 15-10 midway through the first term after a triple from Reuben Te Rangi.

But with Melbourne pulling in 11 rebounds to five, they fired back thanks to Jock Landale to tie scores up at 20-20 after one.

The Phoenix continued to make huge plays to start the second quarter with three-point bombs from Keifer Sykes, Ryan Broekhoff and Mitch Creek with Ben Moore adding an and-one play in there too.

But Landale was keeping United close on his way to 12 points for the opening half and with them continuing to dominating the glass, scores were still level at the main break at 43-43.

Things were still tight for most of the third quarter and South East Melbourne led by just one after a David Barlow triple for Melbourne. But from there the Phoenix closed the quarter on an 8-2 run to lead 71-63 with a quarter to play.

South East Melbourne then opened the fourth quarter on fire with a four-play from Skyes seeing the lead balloon to 14 points. A Yanni Wetzell three-point play maintained a double-digit lead but Melbourne still had one last run in them.

When Chris Goulding banked in a three ball to bring the margin back to five, but the Phoenix had the answers and Wetzell again closed the door on the eventual nine-point Throwdown win.

United heads to Wollongong on Tuesday to face the Illawarra Hawks while the Phoenix are in Brisbane against the Bullets on Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 18

MELBOURNE UNITED 83 (Landale 19, Goulding 13, Hopson 11)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 94 (Sykes 26, Creek 14, Wetzell 12) 

Written by NBL.com.au (16/05/2021)