Ili lights it up as United sweep through Round 3

As Melbourne United solidified their spot on top of the NBL ladder in Round 3, Shea Ili stepped up in a big way when needed.

After locking down Bryce Cotton against Perth, which also saw him ice the contest with five late free-throws, Ili orchestrated United’s offence perfectly against the Bullets on Sunday.

Ili tallied 14 points and eight assists, while connecting on all of his shots from behind the arc and the free-throw line.

Speaking after the game, Head Coach Dean Vickerman praised his point guard’s play, especially after Matthew Dellavedova exited the game with a concussion. 

“He had to step up,” Vickerman said.

“We feel like we’d seen it coming over the last little bit… he’s starting to get back to the Shea that we’ve seen over the past few years and certainly his World Cup form as well.”

A frequent recipient of Ili’s exploits was Chris Goulding, who was often on the other end of the Kiwi dynamo’s passes.

“We’ve played together for a long time,” Goulding explained.

“I’m always sniffing around when he’s got the ball. (We didn’t have) as many interactions in the first few games as we worked guys in and we tried to get everyone involved, but there was just a little run of time there where I was sniffing him out and he could tell I was so he was trying to get me some shots, so thanks Shea.”

The pair will look to connect again in Round 4, when Melbourne head on the road to face the Illawarra Hawks on Friday before heading home for The Multicultural Game against the NZ Breakers on Sunday.

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