Bryce Cotton and the Adelaide 36ers have left South East Melbourne Phoenix yearning for a major scalp heading into the FIBA international break.
The 36ers overcame an 11-point deficit to run out victorious 94-81 at John Cain Arena on Saturday night and leave the third-placed Phoenix 0-4 against the top two sides on the ladder.
Superstar Cotton ignited the 36ers in the third quarter after scoring just six points in the first half as his impact was nullified by Phoenix import Wes Iwundu.
But newly arrived Iwundu realised you can’t completely keep Cotton out of the game and he turned the game with his elite playmaking and finishing skills.
Cotton had to work his way through some pretty stern Phoenix defence to finish with 19 points and nine assists.
Any hopes of Phoenix finding a way in the fourth were completely shattered by the shooting of 36ers guard Dejan Vasiljevic.
Vasiljevic had just one three point made and five points in the first three quarters before erupting with five threes in the fourth to finish with a team-high 22 points, including 6-9 from three point land.
The 36ers improved to 11-3 and are the stand out challenger to title favourites Melbourne United.
The Phoenix produced a commendable performance considering they were without Next Star Malique Lewis (pneumothorax) and Hunter Maldonado (concussion).
Guard Nathan Sobey was electric with a game-high 26 points, while Jordan Hunter continued his hot form with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Hunter’s foul trouble hurt the Phoenix late and the 36ers took full advantage.
Two teams entering the game full of confidence, the game started at a ferocious pace.
The Phoenix flicked a defensive switch late in the first period, making an 8-0 run late in the first quarter to lead 23-19 at quarter time and maintained the rage, opening the second period on a 7-0 run.
It was a game of runs in the first half and the 36ers put up 12 unanswered points to regain the lead.
There was a scary moment just before half time when Hunter soared for a spectacular put back dunk over 36ers forward Zylan Cheatham.
While Hunter scored the points to give Phoenix a handy 43-37 lead at half time, he landed heavily on his back and his head slammed back.
Thankfully the big man, Phoenix’s leading scorer in the first half with 13 points, got up without needing assistance.
With the 36ers mounting a fightback early in the third, Sobey suffered a heavy knock, colliding with Vasiljevic and Nick Rakocevic, but after a short stint on the bench, Sobey returned to soar for a vicious two-handed dunk.
Concerningly for Phoenix, Cotton was starting to heat up.
After just six points in the first half, Cotton ran rampant with 10 points in the third and there was no stopping the veteran guard.
Trailing by three at the start of the fourth, Hunter produced a skyscraping one-handed dunk on an Owen Foxwell dish to get the Phoenix fans believing, but Cheatham returned fire to put Hunter on a poster, soaring for a wicked put back dunk over Hunter.
When Vasiljevic got locked in from three-point land, it was game, set and match to the 36ers.
STAR DUO LIFT BREAKERS TO CRUCIAL WIN OVER TAIPANS
—Mitch Turner
New Zealand’s dynamic big and small duo of Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Sam Mennenga has lifted the Breakers to a massive 102-98 win over Cairns in their final match before the FIBA break.
As has often been the case for the Taipans’ opponents this season, there were a wide variety of scoring options available to the Breakers, with five NZ players in double figures by three-quarter time.
But the lightning fast Jackson-Cartwright proved far too slippery for any Snakes defender he was presented with.
Izaiah Brockington (22 points) was crucial from the charity stripe as the Breakers looked to keep the Snakes at bay in the final moments.
While the Taipans’ hopes of playing finals basketball have been on a steep and steady decline this season, a loss at home to the second-worst team in the league according to the win-loss column is nonetheless a brutal blow.
It’s especially damaging when you acknowledge that Adam Forde threw everything but the kitchen sink at this one, with his marquee man Jack McVeigh logging not one second on the bench for the entire 40 minutes.
MCVEIGH’S IRONMAN EFFORT
The result might not have been there, but you can’t fault the commitment from Cairns’ best player.
And the veteran delivered, pouring in 35 points and hitting clutch three after clutch three to keep his side in the game.
The Breakers kept landing hammer blows in the fourth quarter which could easily have sunk the ship, but time and again McVeigh found the answer, often while blanketed by a defender or two.
It was a performance that echoed his efforts in their overtime loss to Adelaide in which he poured in 39 points in another huge night minutes-wise.
KING-SIZED SCARE
Taipans fans would’ve had their hearts in their mouths just seconds into the contest as Mojave King left the game with an apparent injury.
King was absent from the bench for most of the first term, reappearing in the final minute after checking out 53 seconds into the match.
He was injected back into the contest less than a minute into the second quarter.
Cairns could hardly afford to lose the New Zealand native who has been one of their shining lights across a dismal couple of months.
King was himself an injury replacement player for Alex Higgins-Titsha (wrist, out for season).
KOPONEN’S QUICK TRIGGER
The Breakers might have had the fastest coach’s challenge of the NBL season, with Petteri Koponen pulling the trigger on an out of bounds call 26 seconds into the contest.
He was implored to make the challenge by star man Mennenga, who was correctly adamant that the ball had gone off Marcus Lee as the Taipans attempted an entry pass on their first possession of the game.
MORE ADJUSTMENTS FOR SNAKES
Cairns went with yet another new look in their starting lineup for this one, with Admiral Schofield starting on the pine as both Galloway and Lee got the start.
It appeared to be a move designed to counteract the influence of former Taipan big Mennenga, but the 23-year-old was still hugely productive, having 16 points to his name through one half of basketball.
MELBOURNE GET GRAND FINAL REVENGE IN THRILLER OVER HAWKS
—Jason Phelan
It will not ease the pain of losing the NBL grand final earlier this year.
But Melbourne United finally shook off bogey team Illawarra on Friday night, outlasting the Hawks 105-102 in a thriller at WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong, but they needed every last second of the 40 minutes.
Illawarra appeared to have forced overtime when JaVale McGee connected with a half-court heave at the buzzer, but after video review, it was ruled to have left his hands after time had expired and United survived.
Including the last two games of the 2024-25 grand final series in March, and their first meeting this season earlier this month, United had lost three straight to the Hawks and four of their past five before tip-off on Friday.
But the class of Chris Goulding (23 points) and Milton Doyle (19), and clutch three-point shooting by Finn Delany (13) and Tanner Krebs (12), helped Melbourne overcome the defending champions and improve their league-leading record to 12-2 ahead of a home game against Perth on Sunday before the FIBA break.
It was Illawarra’s third straight loss and, despite a more energetic performance, left the Hawks languishing with a 4-9 record before their next game against South East Melbourne Phoenix on December 4.
McGee (28 points, 11 rebounds) and guards QJ Peterson (22 points) and Davo Hickey (18 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists) kept Illawarra in the game.
Peterson, who equalled his career high of 22 points, hit three triples in the final quarter.
Illawarra looked gone midway through the third term, trailing 73-65, but rallied with a 14-2 run to cut Melbourne’s lead to 86-83 by three-quarter time.
The teams then traded baskets in a see-sawing final period before United edged ahead 99-95 with four minutes remaining.
Hickey’s tip-in of a Tyler Harvey miss put the Hawks in front 102-101 with 29 seconds to go, then Melbourne responded with a Delany corner three for a 104-102 lead with 17.5 seconds left, forcing Hawks coach Justin Tatum to call time out.
Harvey’s potential game-tying floater rimmed out with 1.9 seconds on the clock, Jesse Edwards made one of two free throws, then McGee’s three-point heave from halfway was waved off.
JACKJUMPERS LOSING STREAK EXTENDED AGAINST WILDCATS
By Jake Garland
The Perth Wildcats have added further headaches for Tasmania JackJumpers in a hard fought win at home to extend Tassie’s losing streak to six.
Led by Kristian Doolittle’s 30 points, six assists, the Wildcats started slow but similar to the match up against the JackJumpers only 23-days ago, found the winning edge to claim a 101-95 victory at RAC Arena.
The Wildcats move to five wins from the past seven games and slide into fourth spot while the loss for the JackJumpers has seen them slip to just one game inside the six with a tough matchup against Sydney Kings on Sunday.
Wildcats big men, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr (19 points, three assists and eight rebounds) along with David Duke Jr (19 points, four assists and three rebounds) both shot above 65 percent throughout the night, creating plenty of support for Doolittle.
In his first game back in six weeks, David Johnson finished the game with just three points but stepping up for his second game in a row as captain was Majok Deng with 26 points, 11 rebounds.
Deng, Josh Bannan (29 points, nine rebounds) and Bryce Hamilton led the fightback in the final term for the JackJumpers, pegging a 12-point lead back to single points with three and a half minutes to go but the Wildcats were able to hold on.
The Wildcats will head to Melbourne to take on United on Sunday while Tassie host the Kings.
LUCKLESS BULLETS LOSE ANOTHER STAR IN LOSS TO FLYING PHOENIX
By Jason Phelan
The Brisbane Bullets were stung with another injury blow as Lamar Patterson left the game early during his side’s heavy 103-76 defeat to South East Melbourne Phoenix on Thursday night.
The two-time All-NBL star left the contest late in the third quarter holding his right hamstring to rub salt into the wounds in a disappointing blowout defeat.
It is the latest in an ongoing run of injury woes to hit Stu Lash’s side this year as Patterson’s blow comes just a week after star import Casey Prather suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Prather averaged more than 24 points per game this year up until his injury and the Bullets will now wait nervously to find out the extent of the damage for Patterson.
He joins teammates Sam McDaniel and Tohi Smith-Milner as Bullets players currently battling injuries.
Emotional Cotton leads 36ers’ triumph
– by Jason Phelan
An emotional Bryce Cotton has led the Adelaide 36ers to a 12-point win against the Illawarra Hawks, Mike Wells’ side running over the top of the visitors at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Wednesday night.
The five-time MVP appeared under duress late in the game and was consoled by an assistant coach during a last-quarter timeout, but saw out the clash to help his side to a third win in a row.
Just days after dropping 41 points on the Cairns Taipans in an overtime thriller, Cotton was scoreless in the first quarter, then exploded for a game-high 31 points and 13 assists, with Isaac Humphries impressing yet again with 22 points and nine rebounds.
Cotton put the icing on the cake with a 13th assist setting up a huge Zylan Cheatham slam with just over a minute left in the game.
The 36ers held a seven-point lead after three quarters, having fought back with a 27-15 third term, but ranked last in the league for points scored in the last quarter (18.5) after 12 games.
But their final-term concerns didn’t return to haunt them, as they improved to a 10-3 record to tighten their hold on second spot.
The result made it an amazing 10 wins for the Sixers from their past 11 games against Illawarra.
The game finished with plenty of spice with JaVale McGee and Cheatham whistled for technical fouls and Nick Rakocevic ejected from the game after a scuffle with just over a minute left.
McGee was well-held by the Sixers, finishing with 12 points while Tyler Harvey drained a team-high 21.
The clash was Adelaide’s first Ignite Cup fixture, the NBL’s new in-season tournament played on Wednesday nights culminating in a standalone final for $400,000 prizemoney, with points accrued still counting towards the regular season ladder.
HOT & COLD COTTON
Cotton made a rare concentration error in the dying seconds of the first quarter when he fouled McGee as he threw up a Hail Mary from downtown.
Cotton sent McGee to the foul line for three shots, with the Hawk converting two of them to give his side a 22-21 lead at the first break.
It ended a quiet first quarter from Cotton, who was scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting, with fellow MVP candidate McGee also relatively subdued with four points.
Cotton quickly shook off his scoring funk early in the second, draining his first three three-point attempts, but with the home side edging ahead, QJ Peterson got hot.
The Hawks’ American import made three triples in a row, draining 11 points in the second quarter, to lead all players with 16 at halftime with his side going on a 9-0 run at one stage to lead by five points at the main break.
NICE, ICE
Humphries continued his outstanding season with 12 points to halftime and was important early in the third as the Sixers went on a 13-4 run.
The star centre had a couple of authoritative jams in the first half and added another six in the third.
Cotton threw a scare through the home crowd when he walked off court appearing injured with four minutes left in the third quarter, but he returned to feed Humphries with his seventh assist as the big man made it to 20 points.
To allay all immediate injury fears, Cotton drained his fifth triple soon after and saw out the game.
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150 UP FOR DJ
DJ Vasiljevic played his 150th NBL game and continued to adjust to a new role.
After starting the first 10 games of the season, he has come off the bench the past three and wasn’t part of the first rotation on to the court in the first quarter with Isaac White preferred.
Vasiljevic did make it onto the floor late in the opening term and immediately made his presence felt, draining his first three-point attempt from a long way outside the arc.
That would be his only bucket of the first half, Vasiljevic finishing with nine points.
Originally published as NBL Round 10 news, scores, results: Breakers beat Taipans, Melbourne get grand final revenge over Hawks
