Match wrap: Sixers start season with gutsy win in Melbourne

The Trevor Gleeson era at the Adelaide 36ers has started with a hard-earned 97-95 road win over Melbourne United.

Missing John Jenkins III and Isaac Humphries, and then having Flynn Cameron injure an ankle and Nick Rakocevic foul out, the Sixers held on for a thrilling season-opening win over Melbourne at John Cain Arena.

Cole Anthony did his best to will Melbourne to the win and was one of three players to have a good look at the death along with Chris Goulding and Fabijan Krslovic, but it wasn’t to be with the Sixers getting the job done on the back of another 29 points and seven assists from six-time MVP Bryce Cotton who shot 4/9 from the outside.

Zylan Cheatham also had 18 points and seven rebounds in the win for the 36ers with Rakocevic adding 14 points and nine boards before fouling out.

Isaac White is coming off another MVP season in the NBL1 West and added 10 points, while Jacob Rigoni stepped up in Humphries' absence with eight points and five rebounds in a starting role.

Anthony might have started on the bench for Melbourne, but had 22 points in the second half to finish the game with 30 on 7/14 shooting overall and 7/9 at the foul line.

Josh Oduro added 14 points and six rebounds, Joe Ingles 12 points, seven assists and five boards, and Luke Travers 11 points, six assists and five rebounds.

Both teams came into the opening night match up missing some key players with Melbourne minus point guard Shea Ili while the 36ers were without key pair John Jenkins III and Isaac Humphries.

Melbourne then had all three gun signings, Joe Ingles, Cole Anthony and Sam Waardenburg, coming off the bench and by quarter-time it was the 36ers on the back of hitting six three-pointers with the narrow 25-23 advantage.

It remained a tight affair through the second quarter and while the 36ers did threaten to pull away on the back of Cotton's 16 points in the opening half, Melbourne limited their lead to 49-48 thanks to a Josh Oduro put in after a lob just before the buzzer.

Both Oduro and Anthony had eight points for Melbourne going into half-time while Jacob Rigoni had stepped up for eight for Adelaide with Flynn Cameron adding six with six assists against his former team.

Cotton added another five points in the third quarter to be up to 21 by three quarter-time with the Sixers leading 75-70, but United were staying in touch and 13 points in the term from Anthony helped with that as he was up to 21 for the game too.

Tensions rose in the final quarter and both coaches picked up a technical each and just as the Sixers were on top again up five with six to play, Anthony came up huge.

He completed a three-point play for Melbourne and then knocked down a triple to put United on top forcing Gleeson into a timeout.

Cotton responded with a three of his own coming out of the break before Nick Rakocevic fouled out and Waardenburg went off hurt for Melbourne.

Cotton then found Isaac White for a layup and then Zylan Cheatham completed a three-point play and despite the players they were missing, and lost through the game, the Sixers got the impressive first up win.

Melbourne remains at John Cain Arena for a Throwdown against the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Thursday night while Adelaide head to Perth to play the Wildcats as Gleeson takes on his old team for the first time.

MELBOURNE UNITED 95 – ADELAIDE 36ERS 97

Melbourne United
Cole Anthony – 30 points, 2 rebounds
Josh Oduro – 14 points, 6 rebounds
Joe Ingles – 12 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds

Adelaide 36ers
Bryce Cotton – 29 points, 7 assists
Zylan Cheatham – 18 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists
Nick Rakocevic – 14 points, 9 rebounds
Isaac White – 10 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists
Jacob Rigoni – 8 points, 5 rebounds

BOX SCORE