Melbourne United returned home for the first time in 2024 and strengthened their hold on top spot in the NBL, beating the short-handed yet valiant South East Melbourne Phoenix 99-83.
It was the first game for United at Melbourne's John Cain Arena since December 23, and a crowd of 10,175 turned out for the fourth and final Throwdown on Saturday with the Phoenix right up against it.
They were missing their five most important players, with Mitch Creek (heel) joining Gary Browne, Alan Williams, Matt Kenyon and Craig Moller on the sidelines.
The odds coming into the game had Melbourne at $1.01 while the Phoenix were $21, but to South East Melbourne's credit they fought bravely.
South East Melbourne even led briefly at 15-14 and you couldn’t fault their effort, but United gradually pulled away to lead 26-17 by quarter-time.
It was just the shooting that was the difference in the first half, with Melbourne going at 55 per cent with 8-of-15 from three, while the Phoenix went at 37 per cent with 2-of-12 from deep as United led 57-44.
Things started to get ugly in the second half, and Abdel Nader fouling out with 13 minutes to play didn’t help matters. The Phoenix import returned from injury and had 18 points in 18 minutes.
To Phoenix's credit, they outscored Melbourne 24 points to 11 in the fourth quarter, but United cruised to a 16-point win to retain their gap at the top of the league with an 18-7 win-loss record.
Jo Lual-Acuil delivered 16 points and four rebounds, with Flynn Cameron adding 15 points, Ian Clark 14, Luke Travers 12 and Tanner Krebs 12.Â
Matthew Dellavedova had seven points and eight assists, and Shea Ili eight points and five dimes.
United coach Dean Vickerman, celebrating his 200th NBL win, got everything he wanted from the game.
"We were sharp in some areas and there are some areas we'll look back at and have a balanced reviews about some things we did well and we didn’t," he said.
"Credit to them being well undermanned to keep fighting and they've got some talented young kids on that team."
South East Melbourne (10-16) remain at the foot of the table, but will take plenty from Saturday's match, with Owen Foxwell putting up 14 points before injuring an ankle late in the piece.
The feisty Ben Ayre also had 13 points and nine assists, with Gorjok Gak delivering 10 points and 11 rebounds, and development player Luke Rosendale nine points without a miss.
Phoenix coach Mike Kelly was proud of his team's fighting effort.
"They beat up on us pretty good there for a little while but our guys kept fighting and I think we fought through everything so that's my first take away," he said.
"The guys stayed with it and gave effort the whole time so I was happy with the effort, but not happy with the result."
