Tyson Walker and Chris Goulding combined for 40 points and eight three-pointers with Melbourne United dominating the second half of Throwdown 30 to beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix 92-81.
It was the first time in 30 meetings that the teams had met while occupying the top two spots on the ladder.
The stage couldn’t have been set any better with the two Melbourne rivals sitting first and second ahead of the Saturday night match up at John Cain Arena.
United were still on top but were coming off their first two losses of the season at home to Sydney on Monday and in Wollongong to Illawarra on Wednesday while the Phoenix were on a roll of winning five in-a-row.
And an epic was brewing after two tight quarters, before United coach Dean Vickerman pulled the strings and shut down a Phoenix offence that had threatened a boilover against their big brother.
The Phoenix brought their trademark full-court pressure defence into the contest and it did feel as though they had things on their terms for a lot of the first half including leading by as much as five.
But United had turned the tide by half-time to be leading 47-45 going into the main break before they dominated the third term with 21 points to 12 on the way to opening up a 22-point lead, and cruising from there to win by 11.
Melbourne turned the pressure up on South East Melbourne forcing them into 22 turnovers and then holding the Phoenix to just 81 points on 42 per cent field goal shooting.
United shot the ball at 48 per cent and hit 12/30 from downtown with four each to Chris Goulding and Tyson Walker with the former finishing with 16 points and three rebounds, and the latter 24 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals.
Melbourne were +25 in the 32 minutes that Walker was out on the court with Shea Ili still to return to join him in the back court.
Finn Delany had a physical and fascinating battle with Phoenix hard man John Brown III, and the Kiwi finished with 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals with Milton Doyle adding 12 points and five assists even with a halfcourt stunner on half-time waved off.
The Phoenix are now 7-3 following a first defeat October 16 with Nathan Sobey top-scoring with 15 points despite 5/16 shooting.
Wes Iwundu put up 10 points with six second-half rebounds with Owen Foxwell adding nine points and seven assists, and Brown III nine points, eight rebounds and two steals.
Melbourne remain at John Cain Arena to host the Brisbane Bullets next Saturday while the Phoenix are on the road on Friday against the Cairns Taipans.
HUNGRY JACK’S NBL SEASON 2025/26
SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 81 (Sobey 15, Iwundu 10, Brown III 9)
MELBOURNE UNITED 92 (Walker 24, Delany 18, Goulding 16)
BOX SCORE
