Davis impact thrills Wells in big win

Adelaide 36ers head coach Mike Wells was happy at the effect point guard Kendric Davis had on Thursday night’s 93-83 win against South East Melbourne Phoenix at the Entertainment Centre.

Davis had moments all throughout the 10-point success, showing glimpses of what Wells hopes becomes a regular occurrence this NBL25 season.

Wells said his point guard came up big on some great plays, including clutch free throw shooting, especially in the second half.

“Kendric played with pace and played with poise and it’s never going to be perfect, but that’s the guy that we need,” Wells said post-game.

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“It’s always a balance for a young point guard that has speed, that can get to places nobody else can.

“The passing and cutting and moving and helping his teammates, just being able to get to the rim at times.

Davis scored 21 points, including a perfect eight-from-eight from the free throw line, to go with a team-high seven assists, four steals and three rebounds.

“I thought he was really good, and he will continue to get better I hope,” Wells said.

Wells, who tasted success in the NBL for the first time after the 10-point win in front of a sell out crowd of 9377 people, said the victory was a ‘little reward’ for his playing group.

“They have really put in a lot of hard work since the beginning of practice, they have been very coachable,” Wells said.

“I knew we were going to feed off the home crowd, a sell out, the fans were just awesome and I think the guys were dialed in and ready.

“We have played two games where we have been really, really good in stretches, we just haven’t played 40 minutes to get a win and I thought our guys were really dialed into the details.”

Wells made a big change to the starting line-up, moving Montrezl Harrell to the opening quintet for Lat Mayen, which unlocked the effect of star big man Isaac Humphries.

“It wasn’t perfect by any means, DJ (Vasiljevic) made some shots early, and Ice (Humphries) got rolling early and Kendric (Davis) got playing and then things got rolled downhill from there,” Wells said.

“I was focused on the whole group, and with Trez starting that was going to change the dynamic.

“I had a gut feeling (to move Harrell to the starting five), I think our starting line-up is going to change, we have a group that can play a lot of different ways.”

Humphries scored 14 of his 22 points in the opening half, while also hauling down six rebounds, while Harrell again had his highlight moments, with two huge slam dunks in his 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Adelaide will be back in action on Saturday when the 36ers travel to Wollongong to face Illawarra Hawks from 5pm ACST, catch all the action live and exclusive on ESPN via Kayo Sports.