The South East Melbourne Phoenix have put the defending NBL champions Sydney Kings to the sword, winning 104-98 despite being down three imports and on a losing slide.
The positive Phoenix performance at Melbourne's State Basketball Centre on Thursday was every bit as impressive as the Kings' display was dismal, with the champs now potentially ending the weekend outside the top six.
To say bottom-placed South East Melbourne were up against it would be an understatement, playing without import trio Alan Williams, Abdel Nader and Gary Browne as well as the key pair of Matt Kenyon and Craig Moller.
They had lost eight of their last nine games by an average of 25 points but coach Mike Kelly let the shackles off on Thursday night and his team responded.
The Phoenix came out desperate to break out of their struggles and captain Mitch Creek (31 points, 10 rebounds) led the way.
He scored 14 points in the opening quarter, his team put up 36 to lead by nine and they were shooting a blistering 72 per cent from the field.
It continued in the second quarter, going into halftime leading 61-54 with Creek having 25 points and the pressure on Sydney to respond.
It didnât happen in the third quarter with the South East Melbourne lead growing to 18 points after an 11-0 run that included triples from Ben Ayre (23 points) and Gorjok Gak (nine points, four rebounds).
Sydney responded in the fourth, cutting the margin back to eight and eventually four.
The Phoenix (10-14) wouldn't be denied, though, and scored the most remarkable of six-point wins to get off the basement ahead of hosting Perth on Saturday.
It was a breakout performance from Kody Stattmann with 16 points and six rebounds, while Owen Foxwell added 12 points and six assists.
Kelly gave full credit to his unheralded players afterwards.
"The players did such a phenomenal job of being single-minded in how they went about playing," he said.
"It was just great belief by the players and the group as a whole and it shows what can happen when you have that self-belief, and make some shots.
"They came up with some big plays down the stretch."
Sydney are now 11-13 and in danger of sliding out of the top six with a home game against the league-leading Melbourne United on Sunday.
Former MVP Jaylen Adams had 24 points and nine assists for the Kings with Kouat Noi adding 19 points and Jonah Bolden 10.
Coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah felt Sydney's pressure just wasnât physical enough.
"They just werenât feeling us," he said.
"We were supposed to pick up and pressure them full court, but they werenât feeling us there or in the pick-and-roll coverages.
"We let them get to their spots and they were too comfortable, and we let some of their role players get going. Kudos to them but they set the tone and we didnât."
