Match Recap: Round 19 vs South East Melbourne Phoenix

Written by Melbourne United Medi

Melbourne United have come away with a hard-fought victory in Throwdown XVI, delivered by DoorDash on Thursday evening.

United got off to a fantastic start after Delly poked away the ball resulting in a runaway layup on the opening possession.

Following this, it was just about weathering the interior pressure from Zhou Qi, who came out looking to score the ball every time he touched it. Qi scored the Phoenix’s first six points and finished with 10 points for the term.

Outside of the SEM bigman, the home side struggled, connecting on just four of their 13 shots not taken by Qi, allowing Melbourne to get out and attack through the fast break.

Jack White pressured the rim, scoring six points in the term, while Jo Lual-Acuil Jr went to work in the post, finishing the quarter with seven points of his own.

United ended the quarter with a bang, with Chris Goulding knocking down a tough triple to beat the buzzer and give the “visitors” a 29-24 lead.

The defending champions were able to create many of the same opportunities in the second quarter, however found themselves struggling with finishing for stretches.

Thanks to some hot shooting from Delly, CG, Brad Newley and the returning Caleb Agada, Melbourne found themselves up nine with four minutes left in the term.

This lead quickly evaporated as a lid seemed to fall on United’s rim, while SEM couldn’t seem to miss.

The Phoenix put together a 12-1 run to close the period and take a one-point lead into the major break.

SEM kept the pressure on coming out of half-time through an unlikely hero in Ruben Te Rangi, who scored their first seven points and helped the home side stay on top for much of the term.

United couldn’t seem to keep the Phoenix out of the paint, as Mitch Creek, Xavier Munford and Kyle Adnam found lanes to the rim.

This, combined with a stretch that saw Melbourne go 1-13 from the field, had SEM up by double digits before some nice shooting from CG43 reduced the deficit to just seven points heading into the final 10 minutes.

Needing a major boost, United came out with a fire that was absent for much of the previous two quarters, forcing turnovers and getting to the rim for the first 10 points of the term.

The run was capitalised by a huge Jack White dunk over Munford that had the Melbourne fans in attendance going crazy.

Despite this, the two teams could barely be separated for the remainder of the game, trading big shot for big shot.

After some huge threes from CG, Dave Barlow knocked down a crucial long-range bucket to tie the game in his 200th appearance for United.

In the end, it would be JLA that came up clutch for the defending champions. Trailing by a point, the MVP candidate took the ball coast-to-coast and jammed it on Qi’s head, before displaying some elite rim protection on SEM’s final attempts to win the game.

Melbourne ultimately took home a 90-88 win, keeping them on top of the competition ladder ahead of their Sunday matchup with Cairns.

The game will be broadcast for free on 10 Peach and Kayo Freebies.