Prather, Harrison star in Bullets' win

Casey Prather didn’t miss a shot for 22 first half points and Tyrell Harrison wasn’t far behind as the duo were instrumental in the Brisbane Bullets' eventual 102-83 home NBL Heritage Round win against the Adelaide 36ers.

Prather finished the game with 33 points on 14/17 shooting and 4/5 from downtown to lead the Bullets to the 19-point win where they rammed home their advantage with an 11-0 fourth quarter run.

The Bullets were back home at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre celebrating their 1985 championship team and looking to take full advantage of an Adelaide team missing superstars DJ Vasiljevic, Kendric Davis and Montrezl Harrell.

The Sixers were missing 59.4 points, 16.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists coming into the game with Davis and Harrell still suspended, and Vasiljevic suffering a hamstring injury.

Neither Prather nor Harrison missed a shot in the first quarter combining for 29 points on 12/12 shooting before they both added up to having 39 points on 16/18 shooting by half-time but Brisbane were only clinging to a six-point lead.

That advantage did get out to 15 during the third quarter and eventually the Bullets scored the 19-point win to improve to 5-7 on the season.

Brisbane shot 56 per cent as a team with Harrison also ending up with 19 points and 18 rebounds, captain Mitch Norton 17 points and five assists while Tohi Smith-Milner scored 11 points and James Batemon 10.

The 36ers are now 6-7 with a third consecutive defeat with Isaac Humphries finishing with 16 points and six rebounds with Jason Cadee, Sunday Dech and Nick Marshall all scoring 13 points.

Keanu Rasmussen started as point guard and had a career-high 10 points, five assists and five steals while Jarell Martin scored 12 points.

The Bullets made the perfect start with Tyrell Harrison scoring the game's first six points inside before Casey Prather joined in the fun and suddenly the home team was leading 12-2.

Keanu Rasmussen did score Adelaide's first four points, but Prather ended up delivering a stunning first quarter.

On the back of his 31 points last Friday in Perth, he had 17 points in the opening period on perfect 7/7 shooting from the field and 2/2 from downtown.

Harrison also had 12 points and five rebounds on 5/5 shooting with Brisbane leading 34-24 by the end of one.

Adelaide started the second term well and went on a 7-0 run to force Justin Schueller into a timeout inside the first two minutes with the deficit cut back to six.

The Bullets responded with a three-pointer to Prather and he would score again soon after to go to 22 points on 9/9 shooting, but he wouldn’t attempt another shot the rest of the half.

Brisbane's lead was as much as 13 points but the Sixers did well to hang around and when Jason Cadee pulled off the steal and landed the three on the half-time buzzer, he had 12 points against his old team and the Bullets were only up 53-47.

Considering Prather and Harrison combined for 29 points on 16/18 shooting, only being down six was a win for Adelaide as they tried to figure things out minus Montrezl Harrell, Kendric Davis and DJ Vasiljevic.

Brisbane pushed back out to a double-figure lead midway through the third quarter when Prather hit his first shot since midway through that second period.

That lead for the Bullets grew to as much as 15 heading towards three quarter-time and they were still on top 75-64 heading into the fourth.

Threes to start the final quarter for Brisbane from Mitch Norton and James Batemon saw the lead stay in double-digits before Prather put it out to 14 on his way to scoring his 33rd point, and the Bullets went on to claim the 19-point victory.

Both teams back up to play on Sunday with the Bullets first up against Melbourne United at John Cain Arena while the 36ers return home to play host to the Perth Wildcats for the first time in NBL25.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

BRISBANE BULLETS 102 (Prather 33, Harrison 19, Norton 17)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 83 (Humphries 16, Dech 13, Cadee 13, Marshall 13)

BOX SCORE