DJ shines but 36ers lose tight one to Bullets

Daniel Johnson was at his best and the Adelaide 36ers put in a strong showing in an entertaining affair at Nissan Arena on Sunday afternoon with the Brisbane Bullets just holding on for the 92-91 victory.

The 36ers had a short turnaround from playing at home to the Tasmania JackJumpers on Friday night to taking on the Bullets in Brisbane on Sunday afternoon, and both the Sixers and Bullets produced an entertaining contest.

Adelaide still had one more chance to snatch the win but they weren’t able to score before time expired with the Bullets holding on for the one-point win.

Daniel Johnson had a big game for Adelaide too with 28 points, eight rebounds and four assists on 11/16 shooting from the field.

Sunday Dech produced another 14 points and four rebounds for the Sixers, Todd Withers 12 points, five boards and three steals, Hyrum Harris 12 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Mitch McCarron eight points, 10 boards, seven assists and two steals.

Tad Dufelmeir also finished with nine points and four assists, Mojave King five points and three rebounds, and Kai Sotto three points and two boards.

Sixers coach CJ Bruton would always change a thing here and there, but overall he couldn’t fault the effort of his team.

"Everyone that stepped on the floor gave something and I know that Kai didn’t play a whole lot tonight, and neither did Jack Salt and others, but I thought with the game went with the momentum shifts, I could have given some more minutes here and there," Bruton said. 

"But I was happy with everyone who stepped on the floor and what they gave, and there might always be a turnover or pass here and there that doesn’t need to be made, but that's also part of the game. 

"We need to learn and keep growing in these spaces, but in the second game of a weekend I was happy with most of what were able to do. If we take care of those little things a little better, a lot of things take care of itself."

Jason Cadee caught fire early for the Bullets with five three-pointers in less than five minutes. He then hit two more from downtown in the last three minutes of the game to finish with 26 points and six assists on 7/12 from beyond the arc.

The tone was set for the game in the opening minutes when former Adelaide teammates Jason Cadee and Daniel Johnson caught fire. Cadee hit a couple of quick threes to help Brisbane lead 8-6 with Adelaide's only six points courtesy of a pair of Johnson three balls.

Cadee was just warming up, though, and he nailed three more from downtown in a remarkable outburst. His five three-pointers came in less than five minutes and helped Brisbane lead 17-14 when he hit the fifth leading to a CJ Bruton timeout for Adelaide.

That would be the end of the Cadee barrage, but four points from Lamar Patterson and another five from Robert Franks saw the Bullets maintain a 30-26 lead by the end of one.

Brisbane was then threatening to run right away with the contest when Franks was beginning to dominate and lead the home side to an 11-point advantage when Tamuri Wigness stepped up to score too.

However, Adelaide responded impressively to close the half with 16 of the last 22 points with triples from Todd Withers and Sunday Dech, and another four points to Johnson to give him 16 in the half.

Brisbane, though, still led 51-50 at the half with a late Patterson bucket against the team he scorched late in their last meeting.

After the 36ers closed the first half on an 11-4 run, they scored the first six points of the second half to suddenly lead by five and it didn’t take James Duncan long to need to call a timeout.

It took more than three minutes for the Bullets to first score in the third quarter and that came courtesy of a pull up three from Next Star Tom Digbeu. It didn’t help for long with the Sixers hitting the next seven points firstly with Johnson scoring himself and then finding teammates Withers and Mitch McCarron.

That helped Adelaide to a nine-point lead but the Bullets hung tough and had the deficit back to five by three quarter-time.

Brisbane had worked back into it and then picked up the momentum early in the fourth going on a 9-3 run. When Franks scored in the block with a turnaround jumper, the home team took the lead with seven minutes to go.

The teams just traded bucket for bucket in an entertaining final seven minutes of the game. In the end, a couple more threes from Cadee to give him seven on the night and some huge plays from Digbeu was enough for Brisbane.

Adelaide still had a shot at the finish but Hyrum Harris' attempt wouldn’t fall and Dech couldn’t quite chase down the offensive rebound in time to get the winner off.

The 36ers are back to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre to host the red hot Sydney Kings on Saturday evening.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 18

ADELAIDE 36ERS 91 (Johnson 28, Dech 14, Harris 12, Withers 12) 

BRISBANE BULLETS 92 (Cadee 26, Franks 17, Patterson 14)

BOX SCORE