STANLEY MATCH REPORT: Sobey and Phoenix soar over Kings

Nathan Sobey's season-high haul of 33 points has steered the South East Melbourne Phoenix to a tough 112-95 NBL home win over the Sydney Kings.

The Phoenix were back home at John Cain Arena fresh off a 40-point hammering of the defending champion Illawarra Hawks and ended up dominating the Kings in the second half.

Sydney arrived off their own 22-point win over the Perth Wildcats and were leading 48-45 by half-time, but South East Melbourne produced 67 points to 47 in the second half to win by 17 and improve to 4-2 on the season.

Along with what Sobey did, import guard Hunter Maldonado had a strong showing with 17 points and four rebounds on 5/6 shooting with co-captain Jordan Hunter hitting all three of his long-range attempts for 15 points.

Akech Aliir chimed in with 10 points as did newly arrived import Wes Iwundu despite fouling out in his 11 points.

Point guard Owen Foxwell also had 17 points, eight assists and six rebounds in a fascinating and feisty battle with Kings star Kendric Davis.

Sobey also had five assists and five rebounds while shooting 6/11 from downtown in his best performance of the season.

The Kings are now 3-4 on the season with Davis doing all he could with 31 points, six assists and five rebounds with 8/14 field goal shooting and going 14/18 at the line.

Tim Soares was also efficient with 24 points and five rebounds on 7/11 shooting with Matthew Dellavedova adding 14 points and two assists, and Kouat Noi 14 points and five rebounds.

It was a horror night for former MVP Xavier Cooks, though, who had just three points, three rebounds and two blocks on one shot attempt before fouling out in just under 20 minutes.

Little separated the teams in a first-half arm-wrestle, with Sydney holding a narrow 48-45 lead at the main break despite Sobey's 15 points.

Davis was almost waging a one-man battle on the offensive end for the Kings, and South East Melbourne grabbed momentum when Iwundu and Maldonado lifted.

The home side tipped in 34 points in the third period and turned for home with a 79-73 lead.

Two huge Hunter triples hurt his former team and brought Phoenix fans to their feet as the margin ballooned to double-digits, before a technical foul against Phoenix coach Josh King briefly halted his team's momentum.

Tempers flared with four minutes left when Davis took exception to some words from Sobey after a foul, and players from both sides rushed in to remonstrate.

Davis was hit with a technical foul and Sobey sank the resulting free-throw as the Phoenix kicked away for the gritty victory.

Sydney's three-point shooting woes continued, the visitors nailing just 4/16 from long range to South East Melbourne's 16/33.

Cooks fouled out with almost six minutes left to play while Iwundu was given his marching orders a few moments later, while Hunter and Sydney's Bul Kuol were also forced to sit in the dying stages of the niggly affair.

The Phoenix have the quick turnaround to now play the Brisbane Bullets on the road on Saturday.

FULL TIME STATS

Sobey: 33p/5r/5a
Foxwell: 17p/6r/8a
Maldonado: 17p/4r/1a
Hunter: 15p/3r/1a
Aliir: 10p/5r/3a
Iwundu: 10p
Glover: 4p/4r/4a
Brown III: 3p/5r/1a/1stl
Lewis: 3p/3r/2a/3stls/3blks
Foster: 1a

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