Goulding fires as United ruin rivals' big day

Despite the absence of three key players, Melbourne United remains atop the NBL after seven rebounds with Chris Goulding and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr dominating in Sunday's 92-83 Throwdown victory against the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

It was a real chance for the Phoenix to make a statement against their crosstown rivals with their home game at John Cain Arena sold out and with United missing starters Matthew Dellavedova (calf) and Luke Travers (concussion protocols) along with NBA and NBL champion Ian Clark (hamstring).

Former NBA guard John Wall and tennis ace Nick Kyrgios were part of the Phoenix ownership group sitting courtside in a sold-out 10,175-strong crowd - the largest attendance in the club's short history.

However, United weren't in a giving mood and despite having plenty of excuses to make, they didn't want to play that card and it was captain Goulding and gun big man Lual-Acuil who led the charge.

Goulding finished the afternoon with 27 points with six three-pointers while Lual-Acuil ended up with 26 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks on 10-of-16 shooting.

It was a powerful performance from Melbourne who improves to 9-2 with the victory to sit in top spot and they left points out there going just 16-of-26 at the foul line.

United guard Shea Ili (12 points, four assists) was important despite finding foul trouble and rookie guard Flynn Cameron put up 14 points off the bench, including 4-for-6 shooting from long range stepping up without Dellavedova and Clark.

"Other people can step in to keep the identity of who we want to be," Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman said.

"It was always going to be (about) could we get Jo and CG really effective shots. But I thought they both hunted the great shots that we wanted from them tonight and everybody was willing to accept that.

"We could've easily rolled over a little bit at different times but this group just had an absolute hunger to keep gutting it out."

Star big man Alan Williams had 14 points and seven rebounds for South East Melbourne but was 0-for-5 from the field in the crucial fourth period before fouling out for the third straight game.

Mitch Creek (19 points) starred early with 14 first-half points but struggled to have an impact on the offensive end after half-time.

Craig Moller (12 points, nine rebounds) and Gary Browne (16 points) helped keep the Phoenix in it after halftime until Lual-Acuil shut the gate with a big final few minutes.

Daniel Johnson also made his first appearance for the Phoenix after being signed as an injury replacement for Gorjok Gak. The 415-game NBL veteran and seven-time Adelaide 36ers club MVP had three points and four rebounds in 10 and-a-half minutes.

Phoenix coach Mike Kelly lamented an "inconsistent" display that left his team 6-5 in a congested pack chasing their ladder-leading rivals.

"I'm not too stressed offensively but I do think the defence needs to be a constant buy-in from the guys," Kelly said.

"I can talk about it, and other guys can talk about it, but we just need to consistently demand it. We're not there yet.

"I guess I'd probably say this if we were the best team in the competition too, I would say that I'm happy but we're not as good as we can be. I can't wait until that day happens."

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 7

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 83 (Creek 19, Browne 16, Williams 14)

MELBOURNE UNITED 92 (Goulding 27, Lual-Acuil Jr 26, Cameron 14)

BOX SCORE