Match wrap: Phoenix fightback forces game three

The Adelaide 36ers looked on track for the NBL Championship Series until Nathan Sobey inspire the South East Melbourne Phoenix with a career-best night to take the semi-final series to a third game with a 101-92 win.

The 36ers opened the series with a 104-97 Game 1 win at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Tuesday night and were in control throughout the first half at John Cain Arena on Saturday.

They built an 18-point lead in the second quarter and were still up 13 at the half on the back of shooting 73 per cent from the field and going to the line 15 times to seven with Bryce Cotton showing the way with 19 points and 10 free-throw attempts.

Sobey was a shining light already for the Phoenix with 20 points. Then he exploded with four more three-pointers in the first five minutes of the third quarter, dragging his team along with him as they outscored the Sixers 39-20 in the third period.

The Phoenix finished with 18 offensive rebounds and forced Adelaide into 18 turnovers and attempted 25 extra shots despite 11 fewer free throws.

Sobey had the night of his 331-game NBL career with 41 points, five rebounds and three assists on shooting 14/27 from the field, 8/16 from deep and 5/6 from the foul line.

Six-time MVP Bryce Cotton finished with 29 points, six rebounds and five assists on 12/14 foul shooting for Adelaide. Nick Rakocevic added 18 points, 10 rebounds and three assists, DJ Vasiljevic 14 points on 4/9 three-point shooting, and Zylan Cheatham 12 points, six boards and three blocks.

Bryce Cotton fed Isaac Humphries to give Adelaide the first four points and even with Nathan Sobey warming up with three three-point bombs for South East Melbourne, the 36ers took charge heading into quarter-time.

The Sixers finished the quarter with a 14-2 run that included a pair of three balls from Nick Rakocevic as the visitors headed into quarter-time with a 30-19 lead.

Adelaide pushed out to a 15-point lead with the first four points of the second term and with an 11-4 start overall, their lead grew to 18.

Sobey was doing what he could to keep South East Melbourne in the contest with 20 points to half-time, but he didn’t have enough help and the 36ers were leading 57-44.

Cotton had 19 points with 9/10 free-throw shooting but he was getting plenty of help with the Sixers shooting 73 per cent from the field with 6/8 from deep, and only missing seven shots in 20 minutes.

South East Melbourne might have had their backs to the wall at half-time, but not for long with Sobey come out and hitting two rapid-fire three balls to open the second half.

He kickstarted another 5-0 run that was capped with Wes Iwundu hitting from deep and John Brown III scoring on a trademark offensive rebound to tie scores up with that 13-point deficit erased in fewer than three minutes.

Sobey then hit two more three balls to give him eight for the game to push the Phoenix out to a leader which suddenly became eight when Angus Glover got rolling with his own 8-0 run.

The Phoenix turned that into an 83-77 lead by three quarter-time thanks to the 39 points to 20 in the quarter and from there they were able to maintain that momentum throughout the final period to complete the nine-point win.

The deciding Game 3 will be back at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Tuesday night with the winner to advance to the Championship Series.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL FINALS – PLAYOFFS SERIES 1, GAME 2

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 101 (Sobey 41, Brown III 12, Glover 10, Clark 10)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 92 (Cotton 29, Rakocevic 18, Vasiljevic 14)

BOX SCORE