Bryce Cotton and the Adelaide 36ers bounced back from a sluggish performance against the Sydney Kings to storm to a commanding win against South East Melbourne Phoenix on Thursday night.
Restricted to just seven points in a disappointing loss to the Kings, Cotton put on a show with 23 points in a stunning first half and finished with a game-high 28 points as Adelaide led from start to finish.
Mike Wells’s side led by as much as 28 points before cruising to an impressive win that improved its season record to 4-1.
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Playing their third home game in eight days, the Sixers showed no signs of fatigue or mental scars from their last-start loss, romping to their biggest-ever halftime lead of 23 points at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and keeping the Phoenix to their lowest first-half score of the season.
Isaac Humphries was coming off his own quiet night against Sydney, with just one rebound, but the star big had 10 boards and 11 points in a dominant first half.
Humphries didn’t pull down a rebound in the second half, but finished with 21 points, while Zylan Cheatham pulled down a game-high 14 boards.
The Phoenix didn’t have a scorer in double figures after three quarters in a limp display that dropped them to a 2-2 record.
Jordan Hunter was the first South East Melbourne player into double digits, with six minutes left in the game, and finished with a team-high 16.
Former Sixer Nathan Sobey returned to play his 300th NBL game, 121 of those for Adelaide, but he endured a tough night in his milestone, finishing with 12 points.
BRYCE DID WHAT?
Cotton exploded out of the blocks with 15 points in the first quarter, on 6-of-8 shooting, with three rebounds, including grabbing his offensive board after a three-point and finishing his work for another two points.
The next best 36er had four points in the first quarter as the home side jumped out to a 28-16 lead at the first break.
Amazingly, Cotton led the Phoenix 22-19 four minutes into the second quarter on his own.
Add in scores from Cotton’s teammates, and the 36ers held a commanding 43-19 lead after starting the second term on an 11-2 run.
The Phoenix copped two technical fouls in a torrid second quarter, one to John Brown and one to the bench, and trailed 23 points at the main break.
If they were hoping for a quick bounce back in the second half, the visitors were sorely disappointed, with Cotton picking Daniel Foster’s pocket to start the third term before pulling up to drain another three.
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TRIPLE TRASH
South East Melbourne’s three-point shooting was a major factor in its first-half struggles.
Josh King’s side went 0-of-7 in the first quarter and hadn’t hit a triple after 13 attempts until Hunter finally knocked down one from long range just over two minutes before halftime.
That would be his side’s only triple of the first half, however, the Phoenix going 1-of-16 to Adelaide’s 4-of-10 in three-point shooting.
Sobey shot 0-of-3 in the first half, as did Hunter Maldonado.
They weren’t the only ones struggling from outside the arc in the first half, with DJ Vasiljevic shooting 0-of-2 with just one point, from a free throw, before the main break.
The Phoenix improved their long-range shooting after the horse had bolted, but still finished with 8-of-31 to Adelaide’s 6-of-18.
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