South East Melbourne star guard Nathan Sobey has continued his stellar season to help steer his side to a steady 12-point win over New Zealand Breakers in Gippsland.
After a tight first half in a fiery contest, Sobey made the game his own with 20 second-half points powering the 92-80 win and a season-high 36 points for the veteran.
Sobey also had seven rebounds and five assists to his name as the Breakers’ game was just about over after Sobey nailed his sixth three to make it a 13-point lead with 5:49 left.
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The 35-year-old broke his previous season-best of 33 points against the Sydney Kings in the Nix’s 11th win of the season.
Jordan Hunter (12 points and nine rebounds) and John Brown (10 points, five assists and four rebounds) were also influential to the win.
It was Nix’s second win from their past three games.
Meanwhile for the Breakers, who had a three-game win streak broken, had Parker Jackson-Cartwright lead with 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Rob Baker also continued his strong form with 16 points and four rebounds for the visitors.
A three-point blitz out of halftime where the Nix shot 4/5 from long range in the first four minutes sparked the first double digit lead of the game.
Sobey was first off the rack to fire and nailed a three again shortly after before going Wes Iwundu and Jordan Hunter followed suit to help spark an 11-point advantage, extending on a three-point lead at half time.
The Phoenix ended the night 14/41 (34 per cent) improving on their out-of-character 9/38 (23.7 per cent) against Tasmania on Wednesday.
Sobey was leading the charge in the first half with a game-high 16 points including a trio of three pointers in the opening quarter.
The 35-year-old star guard is showing no sign of age as he lifted in the key moments, pushing his side to first quarter and half-time advantages.
After nailing two threes in the final minute of the opening term to spark a six-point lead at the first break, Sobey converted at the freethrow line with 13 seconds left in the second quarter to push his side to a 44-41 lead at half time.
The 2021 All-NBL first teamer added another 11 points in the third quarter to take his outing to another level.
The Breakers continued their trend of having a variety of scoring options with four or more players recording double-digit points for the fourth consecutive game.
Izaiah Brockington, Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Rob Baker featured while Tai Webster had 10 points in his second NBL game of the season after coming in as an Injury Replacement Player for injured guard Izayah Le’afa.
The usually sharp-shooting Phoenix were down on the offensive end early but they managed to fight back from a 7-3 deficit early to lead by six (26-20) at the first break.
Nathan Sobey nailed two threes in the final minute of the opening quarter to power the turnaround.
Earlier, the Phoenix led 11-9 after six minutes in a low-scoring beginning riddled with misses as both side shot a combined 2/13 from three-point range.
TASSIE STORMS HOME FOR STATEMENT WIN… DESPITE HORROR FIVE-MINUTE OPENING
An impressive fightback from Tasmania has lifted Scott Roth’s men over the Cairns Taipans in Far North Queensland, in a win which keeps them in touch with the top six.
It’s been an up-and-down season for the NBL’s southernmost franchise, but Saturday evening’s win against a motivated Cairns outfit will pair nicely with Wednesday night’s 89-81 victory over South East Melbourne.
It must have been an incredibly frustrating opening term for the JackJumpers as it took five minutes for them to finally take the lid off the basket, but once they found their groove they were unerring.
With every passing minute the Taipans lead – once in double digits – felt less and less safe, until they eventually took the lead midway early in the third term.
Josh Bannan’s presence on the inside was unmistakeable, as was Will Magnay, while Bryce Hamilton went to work on the perimeter.
Tassie benefited from far superior execution down the stretch, forcing live ball turnovers which led to wide open dunks, while David Johnson came to life in the closing minutes, nailing a three and an and-one lay-up in consecutive possessions.
Tasmania now has an eight-day break before they host Perth, with the chance to keep this push for seeding going.
The Taipans welcomed Sam Waardenburg into the active line-up for the first time this season, with last year’s club MVP having finally rehabilitated an ankle injury that has kept him firmly on the sidelines.
And he was immediately in the action, first diving for and winning a loose ball only to inadvertently step out of bounds while on the ground, before throwing down an alley-oop off a designed backdoor cut.
His presence seemed to spur the Snakes into action at both ends of the court, as they scored the first 13 points of the game and didn’t concede a basket until halfway through the opening term.
While unconfirmed, it appears Waardenburg was on a minutes restriction as he played approximately half of each quarter, likely a call designed to ease him back into top-flight competitive basketball.
Jack McVeigh was relentless early against his former club, taking advantage of every opening on offence to pour on the pain.
The Snakes superstar seemed to benefit from Waardenburg’s presence on the court as the Taipans were able to stretch the defence and make their opponents guard more of the court.
It’s a set-up that has the potential to become even more potent as the pairing gets more time on court and in practice together.
Andrew Andrews continued his hot start to the return from the break, hitting some timely threes (including a four-point play) and showcasing his ability to attack the hoop.
— NCA NewsWire