Phoenix find their rhythm in pre-season test

Angus Glover was feeling it, Ellis Biggar took his chances, Dash Daniels looked good and D'Shawn Schwartz encouraged as the South East Melbourne Phoenix scored the 86-64 NBL pre-season win against Saint Mary's College.

Saint Mary's College have a rich history with Australian talent so it makes the world of sense to tour down under for them and they continued that 2026 trip on Sunday at Melbourne's State Basketball Centre.

The Gaels had already played the Illawarra Hawks back on Thursday night and then the Sydney Kings on Sunday morning ahead of taking on the Phoenix who had started their own pre-season campaign beating the B League United 113-60 last Thursday night.

Next Star Dash Daniels then pulled on a South East Melbourne jersey for the first time on Sunday too as did new import D'Shawn Schwartz as the NBL Blitz in Bendigo closes in and the start of NBL27 nears.

The Phoenix were leading 20-15 by the end of the first quarter on 7/17 shooting from the field to the 5/15 from Saint Mary's.

It remained a good contest in the second quarter and Vangelis Zougris was proving a tough go-to option for the Gaels and had 13 points to his name by half-time.

The Phoenix were clinging to the 38-33 lead with Daniels up to eight points as was Angus Glover who went 2/4 from the outside while the rest of his teammates managed just 2/11.

It was a different story after half-time with South East Melbourne piling on 27 points in the third quarter on 11/18 shooting from the field including another eight points and two three balls from Glover.

St Mary's only managed the 12 points on 5/20 shooting with seven of those point courtesy again of Zougris.

South East Melbourne added another 21 points to 19 in the final period for the 22-point victory, but it was much more about the good signs of things were clicking than the scoreline.

Glover finished with 19 points with 5/10 three-point shooting for the Phoenix with Daniels looking good in new colours as a Next Star with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Ellis Biggar showed good signs too with 11 points and five rebounds with 5/5 shooting in 16 minutes while Tanner Krebs was another playing his first game with a new club and had 10 points.

New import D'Shawn Schwartz had his first hit out for seven points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes with Akech Aliir adding eight points, four boards, four assists, three steals and three blocks, Jordan Hunter seven points, three rebounds and three steals, and Sam Davidson seven points.

Saint Mary's will continue their Australian tour in Cairns on Wednesday night with Vangelis Zougris finishing with 20 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks with 7/9 shooting from the floor and 2/2 from downtown.

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 86 – SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE 64

SE Melbourne Phoenix
Angus Glover – 19 points, 5/10 3PT
Dash Daniels – 12 points, 8 rebounds
Ellis Biggar – 11 points, 5 rebounds
Tanner Krebs – 10 points, 2 rebounds
Akech Aliir – 8 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks

St Mary's Gaels
Vangelis Zougris – 20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks
Jazz Gardner – 11 points, 2 blocks
Josh Dent – 9 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals