United dig deep to stay chance of fourth

It was a vastly different looking Melbourne United who didn’t want to give up on a fourth place finish and they withstood a Nathan Sobey inspired a 19-0 South East Melbourne Phoenix third quarter run to still prevail 95-91.

Coming into the fourth Throwdown of NBL26 at John Cain Arena on Thursday night and there was still plenty at stake in the final game of the regular season for both local rivals.

The Phoenix needed to win to remain any hope of breaking into the top two while for United to be a chance of still finishing fourth and avoiding a Play-In Game with the Tasmania JackJumpers, they had to win.

Despite having lost three of their past four matches, it was a different looking United outfit with coach Dean Vickerman back at the helm after missing the last two games with appendicitis.

His team opened a 16-point lead as well and went into the half-time break leading 52-42 but the Phoenix were always going to make a run and that came in the third period.

MVP candidate Sobey led the way with South East Melbourne scoring 19 consecutive points to turn into three quarter-time leading 72-68.

However, United dug deep once again and responded with a 27-19 fourth quarter and then hung on for the win in the finish when Sobey missed a chance to force overtime and Milton Doyle wrapped up his big performance with the defensive rebound and the clutch free throws.

What it means is that Melbourne are still a chance to move up to fourth position should the Adelaide 36ers win in Perth against the Wildcats on Friday night.

Melbourne finish the season on a 20-13 record and should Perth join them there with a loss, it will come down to percentage and roughly a 10-point defeat for the 'Cats would be enough for United to replace them in fourth position.

South East Melbourne, meanwhile, are locked into third position now no matter what happens on Friday night with the Phoenix finishing the regular season at 22-11 as they await to see if it's Melbourne or Perth they play first up in the finals with a chance to win straight through to a Playoff Series.

It was the desperation that Melbourne played with that was the most impressive facet of their win highlighted by them pulling down 20 offensive rebounds for the game which led to them taking an extra 11 shots than the Phoenix.

Doyle produced another standout performance for Melbourne with 25 points, three rebounds and two assists with 5/12 from downtown.

His back court running mate Tyson Walker added 23 points and five assists also going 5/10 from behind the arc as they step up in the continued absence of Shea Ili.

Chris Goulding finished with 14 points as well while import centre Jesse Edwards put up 17 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two blocks on 8/11 shooting.

The Phoenix just weren’t able to get up the volume of shots they normally do only going 29/65 from the field at 45 per cent although they did well getting to the line going 22/26.

However, only forcing Melbourne into 13 turnovers and collecting just nine offensive rebounds are low for South East Melbourne standards although John Brown III held up his end with five offensive boards along with 10 points.

Sobey ended up top-scoring with 29 points and seven rebounds with 5/8 three-point shooting while Wes Iwundu contributed 17 points and four boards, and Ian Clark 14 points and two blocked shots.

Next Star Malique Lewis also had seven points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals along with a massive block late on a driving Doyle which gave the Phoenix a shot at forcing overtime, or the winner.

Both teams have now finished their regular seasons with Melbourne waiting to see if they finish fourth or fifth, and if they go into a cut-throat Play-In Game hosting Tasmania or a Throwdown with the Phoenix.

The Phoenix are locked into third place now and will either take on Melbourne or Perth with the chance to go straight to a Playoffs Series.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26 – ROUND 22

MELBOURNE UNITED 95 (Doyle 25, Walker 23, Edwards 17)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 91 (Sobey 29, Iwundu 17, Clark 14)

BOX SCORE