BASKETBALL – NBL – TOM HAYES

ALMOST exactly a year after playing at Traralgon’s Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium (GRISS), South East Melbourne Phoenix returned for the third consecutive year to play an NBL game for premiership points.

Over 3000 fans packed into the GRISS to watch their adopted NBL team take to the court against Illawarra Hawks, showing their support throughout the afternoon.

The Phoenix would have to do it with captain, Mitch Creek, after he suffered a knee injury against Melbourne United, a major blow.

Gary Browne stood in as Phoenix captain and led from the front as best as he could, while ex-NBA small forward for Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns, Abdel Nader, made his debut for the Phoenix – five days after joining the club.

Pre-game, new Latrobe City Mayor Darren Howe presented the match ball to officials, to get proceedings underway.

Despite sitting third ahead of the weekend, conversely, Illawarra sat on the other end of the standings, the visiting side wasn’t going down without a fight.

In fact the Hawks gave themselves the best chance of winning from the offing, starting the game off with a stylish alley-oop dunk with the first play of the game.

The Phoenix found it difficult early, failing to make shots and relying on fouls to keep them in the game, nonetheless, their press would pay dividends eventually.

South East Melbourne’s Ben Ayre drained a three, plus a foul, to complete a four-point play and give the Phoenix their first lead of the game late in the first quarter.

The home side rallied to hold a five-point advantage at the break, a testament to their hard work.

That hard work would soon become irrelevant, as the Phoenix were dominated and outworked, almost in every facet from here on out.

Nader made his first basket in Phoenix colours early in the second term to extend the lead to seven points, but the onslaught from the Hawks was incoming.

It’s almost as if the Hawks were trying to jeopardize their work, as their coach, Justin Tatum, received a technical foul, sending the Phoenix to the line, keeping their lead intact with a hefty amount of time remaining in the half.

Just over a minute after the tech, the Hawks suddenly had the lead again after a flurry of momentum going in their direction.

And just as they did in the opening stages of the game, Illawarra took full control of the game, coasting to a nine-point lead.

Some entertaining end-to-end basketball led to some altercations on the court, as an attempted steal saw two players fight for the ball, before they began to burst into a small brawl on the court, with only 18 seconds left to play in the first half.

The quarter petered out, and the Hawks were in full control, turning a five-point quarter time deficit into a nine-point advantage in the space of 10 minutes.

Perhaps led by their captain, Illawarra’s Tyler Harvey had 22 points in the opening half, but also faced foul trouble with three next to his name already.

During the half time break, Mayor Howe took to the court for interviews with matchday staff, while some Under-12 basketballers showed their skills in front of thousands of fans – who got behind them too.

Even during the breaks, the crowd noise was electric, so you can only imagine how many decibels reverberated through the GRISS when the Phoenix landed a basket.

The start of the second half was much for freer flowing, yet the scoreboard wasn’t ticking over as much, it soon began to pick up as the Hawks took further command.

South East Melbourne were doing everything to stay in the game, including throwing in a coaches’ challenge for the shooting foul, which was unsuccessful midway through the third quarter.

The Phoenix soon found themselves in foul trouble, as Illawarra entered the bonus with several minutes left in the term.

Sam Froling and Gary Clark proved to be extra dangerous for the Hawks during this time, drawing consecutive shooting fouls which were converted, extending their lead at every attempt.

The visitors finished the third term a further six points ahead, and with the lead in double figures, a comeback looked unlikely from here for the Phoenix.

Just a quarter of the way into the final quarter and the lead was stretched to 20 points, another 90 seconds later and it was out to 25 points.

Despite their frustrations visibly getting the better of them, the game followed suit, yet the crowd were still behind them, loud as anything even when the lead was cut down to 23 points with five minutes left on the clock.

The game soon fell out of reach for the Phoenix, as they decided to bring the bench onto the court, alongside Owen Foxwell.

The Hawks did the same, as the bench players provided some entertainment for the last couple of minutes.

The margin soon ballooned out to 28 points as the final siren rang through the GRISS, the final score reading Illawarra 100, South East Melbourne 72.

“Once they (Illawarra) started going- It was a struggle for us to score, the ball didn’t move as well as we needed to move, and they kept scoring,” South East Melbourne coach Mike Kelly said post-match.

“The fans were amazing tonight.”

South East Melbourne remain inside the top half of the standings – fifth, with an even 8-8 record, while the Hawks climbing to eighth to improve their record to 5-8.

With around two months of basketball still to be played before finals, so much more can happen before the pointy end of the season gets underway.

Advice: Phoenix coach Mike Kelly embracing with stand-in captain Gary Browne.

Full house: The Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium was packed.

Pull up: Phoenix’s Ben Ayre releases from beyond the arc.

Splash: Illawarra’s Biwali Bayles had all the vibes after hitting this three.

Good game: Both sides showed good sportsmanship after the match.