Sixers New Guns Fire in Opening Blitz Win

The Adelaide 36ers sure love the NBL Blitz and they put on a show led by new imports Craig Randall and Antonius Cleveland on Friday night for an 84-76 win against the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Darwin.

Darwin is playing host to this year's Blitz two weeks out from NBL23 tipping off and it got underway at the Darwin Basketball Stadium on Friday night with the Sixers taking on the Phoenix.

Adelaide were the winners of the Blitz last year in Tasmania but they could never quite replicate that form in the season proper in CJ Bruton's first time as coach, but all signs are different looking ahead to NBL23.

Based on what dynamic point guard Randall and all-round talented Cleveland showed in the Blitz opener along with the brief flashes from Robert Franks along with the experience of Mitch McCarron and Daniel Johnson with handy role players stepping up too, there's a lot for the Sixers to be excited about.

Adelaide opened up a 22-point lead during the third quarter and had all the answers against a South East Melbourne team missing perhaps their three most potent offensive weapons, Mitch Creek, Trey Kell and Ryan Broekhoff.

However, the Phoenix kept fighting initially sparked by Kyle Adnam and Junior Madut before imports Gary Browne and Alan Williams fired up late but it wasn’t enough for a Sixers team at full strength aside from the absence of Anthony Drmic.

Randall had some massive moments for the 36ers both finishing at the rim and knocking down critical three balls to finish with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Cleveland is coming off a season with the Illawarra Hawks where he was both Best Defensive Player and an All-First Team member. He looks ready to fire for the 36ers with 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Captain Mitch McCarron has had a massive off-season leading the Australian Boomers and he put up 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists with seven-time club MVP Daniel Johnson delivering seven points and three rebounds.

There were further good signs from development player Nick Marshall (11 points, six rebounds) and the emerging Hyrum Harris (eight points, four boards) while Robert Franks (six points, three steals) did enough in his first appearance in Sixers colours in just 11 minutes.

Despite the loss, given the Phoenix were missing Creek, Kell and Broekhoff, the signs were encouraging with captain Adnam delivering 19 points and four assists while going 5/13 from downtown.

Import big man Williams would have been frustrated that foul trouble limited him to 14 and-a-half minutes, but when on the court he did well for 13 points and seven rebounds.

Browne worked into the contest for 10 points while Junior Madut looked at home on an NBL floor with 11 points and six rebounds.

South East Melbourne opened up strongly with the first five points with a bucket to Kyle Adnam and triple from Grant Anticevich. It didn't take long for the Sixers to warm up, though, and they took the lead thanks to import point guard Craig Randall.

Kyrin Galloway showed he's ready for an increased role for NBL23 soon after knocking down a three ball but it was Adnam keeping the Phoenix close by hitting two triples heading towards quarter-time.

Adelaide were up 21-20 after one and then the 36ers threatened to break the game open early in the second period. Mitch McCarron knocked down a three-pointer to spark a 9-0 run to see them go up by eight.

That advantage grew to 11 with a three from Robert Franks before Kai Sotto brought the house down with a putback dunk to put the Sixers up 13.

However, South East Melbourne finished the half well with nine of the 11 points to cut the Adelaide advantage to 39-33.

The Sixers really turned things up a gear to open the second half and it was Randall putting on a show with a couple of spectacular finishes as part of an 8-0 run to see the lead grow to 15.

He was letting the Phoenix know about it too, especially the man trying to guard him Junior Madut. Adelaide then went on another 9-0 run including a three-pointer from Sunday Dech as the lead ballooned to 22.

South East Melbourne didn’t lie down, though, and it was Madut and Adnam sparking them, including a triple from the latter on the buzzer to cut Adelaide's lead back to 10 at three quarter-time.

Two huge threes early in the fourth quarter from Randall then ensured Adelaide opened up a match-winning 14-point lead.

That didn’t stop the Phoenix still making it interesting late with Gary Browne and Alan Williams sparking a fightback where they got as close to five, but the Sixers steadied to win by eight topped off with a breakaway slam by captain McCarron.

There will be two games on Saturday as the NBL Blitz continues in Darwin starting at 3.30am AEST with the Tasmania JackJumpers up against the Sydney Kings in a Grand Final rematch from last season.

The Perth Wildcats will then take on the Cairns Taipans from 6pm.

Meanwhile, the Phoenix will be next in action against the Wildcats on Monday after the Sixers face the JackJumpers to open proceedings for the evening.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL BLITZ – DAY 1

ADELAIDE 36ERS 84 (Randall 16, McCarron 12, Cleveland 12)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 76 (Adnam 19, Williams 13, Madut 11)

BOX SCORE

Written for nbl.com.au by Chris Pike