Musashi Match Report: Phoenix Overpowered by Wildcats

South East Melbourne Phoenix was handed a comprehensive defeat in the hands of reigning champions Perth on Thursday night at the State Basketball Centre, falling 75-106.

The visitors led from start to finish and put on an absolute clinic of team basketball, slicing the Phoenix defence open throughout.

A 27-11 second quarter from Perth blew the gap out to 21 at the main break after a closely contested first term, which proved too big a hurdle for the Phoenix to overcome.

The Phoenix cut the margin to 16 midway through the third before any hopes of a fightback were snuffed out with another Wildcat flurry.

“I thought we were timid, I thought we were physically ill-equipped to handle the pressure they provided and that’s both sides of the ball,” Phoenix Coach Simon Mitchell said.

“They were tremendous. These games are going to happen over the course of an NBL season where you’re off a little bit and a team’s on and it can get out of hand pretty quickly.

“We tried to throw different line-ups out there and a couple of different looks from a defensive standpoint, but we didn’t have any answers. Credit to Trevor (Gleeson), he’s the best in the business, that’s why he wins championships.

“It’s extremely disappointing to go out like that.”

Mitchell added Sunday’s rematch needs to see a far higher intensity. 

“It needs to be a physical stand, it needs to be an attitude and it needs to be a statement from us that we’re not going down like that.”

Phoenix co-captain Kyle Adnam showed plenty of heart in the heavy loss, scoring an equal career-high 24 points and consistently attacking the rim when others were struggling to get busy.

“We were super passive as a group on both ends,” Adnam said.

“This one definitely hurts but tomorrow morning we’ve got to get up, review and see what we did wrong because there was a lot of things.

“We’ve got to come out hungry Sunday and really give effort.”

Ben Moore’s 18 points on 7-8 shooting and Mitch Creek’s 16 points/11 rebound performances were also valiant.

For Perth, Todd Blanchfield, John Mooney, Bryce Cotton and Jesse Wagstaff all starred.

The two teams face off again on Sunday at the State Basketball Centre at 5:00pm AEDT.

Sam Bunn for Phoenix Media (11/02/2021)