While Froling was rollin in the third, Handle by Randle came up with the clutch go ahead in the dying minutes to halt the flight of the Phoenix. Photo By NBL
THE WRAP Q BY Q
Phoenix import John Roberson showed his handle skills early as he took Anthony Drmic in his 100th game to the hole for the and1 before Randle raised him one at the table feeding Drmic a dime. Drmic showed his dribble arsenal before Ben Madgen splashed one in the corner at the other end. Creek then came down the lane like a freight train for his first bucket before Ramone Moore looking fresh as he has in a while dropped a nice dribble penetration finish. At 14-14 a piece midway through the first, Drmic launched a 45 degree bomb and “grown man business” Tai Wesley added to his return tally in encouraging signs for the Phoenix front court. Jack McVeigh came off the pine and drew the offensive foul against another former player Kyle Adnam before Eric Griffin dropped a triple after putting one between his legs to give the Sixers a 31-22 lead at quarter time.
Randle opened the second dancing around Adam Gibson and reminded his former teammate about how practice was a few years back before couple of offensive fouls were dealt out by the officials on different plays as the Phoenix were in the bonus before the 6 minute mark of the quarter. Randle then dropped one off the window before Roberson hit back. Creek then led the fightback through Dane Pineau on the offensive glass as timeout was burned by Joey Wright as the Phoenix was on a 15-5 run. Immediately the Sixers went to Griffin inside for reward before Creek went to work again and was causing big problems for the Sixers. Import Keith Benson came on for the Phoenix and made some impact with a big finish on the rim with Sixers just edging in front at half-time by 51-48.
Creek opened the third with a bucket before Randle went to work with consecutive buckets including a sweet double spin followed by an off-hand right handed layup and1. Moore and Dan Dillon dropped a triple, steal and score and timeout to the Phoenix 74-68. DJ picked up another set of fouls and with four, Wright was forced to roll the dice on Froling and boy did he come up big. In 3:34 minutes of action, we saw an explosion from the 2018 rookie of the year as he drained 14 points including two triples and brought some serious energy and noise to the building when he finished a little reverse two handed tip in. The Sixers leading 86-76 with one to play and despite a big lead, this one you felt was heading to a climatic finish.
Moore blocked Madgen on the fast break to open the fourth before another former player in Adam Gibson splashed his first of the night from range. McVeigh against Creek got to the rack with the finish before Gibson dropped another. 91-89 and Griffin was making a late charge as he flushed one down before Gibbo dropped a third triple. Wesley was exposing that fifth foul that DJ couldn’t give up before Randle scored yet another and1 then setup Griffin for another pick and roll slam. Teys dropped a triple before Roberson off balance got one himself before Teys got an offensive rebound and dropped in the reverse lay. Griffin then nearly finished the top ten play of the week on top of Creek before Roberson hit a murderous ruthless step-back triple. Teys got a ghost call of a defensive foul before Creek dropped a triple dagger to edge Phoenix back in front again. DJ missed the hook shot but Griffin came soaring from the clouds to put it away before Creek hit back the other end, Randle then dribbled a crossover to knock down the mid-range before Creek was pinged for the travel on the next play with some excellent post D from the Sixers. Next play Randle crossed up Wesley with the behind the back moving him into the fade away mid-range to put the Sixers up 112-109. Probably one of the biggest defensive blues then occurred as one called switch and the other stay and Creek was naked under the basket to bring it back to one point. Teys was fouled and after being 100 percent from the charity stripe all year, he missed both but Drmic got the offensive foul and Wesley was out with five fouls. Drmic missed the first before he got the last one. One last crack for Creek and the Phoenix as he got right to the rim and was inches from grabbing an epic win for his side, but it missed off the rim and in unusual scenes, Moore embraced Creek and whispered something along the lines of “bad luck” then Randle and despite the win. The drama and spectacle of a game with a man that still loves his teammates and his former fans lived up to the hype as the highest scoring game of the NBL season finished at 113-111.
COACH SPEAK (Written from NBL Website)
Wright was ecstatic with his side’s win and spoke glowingly about the team and the game of Froling. “The guys made their luck tonight, we made some good plays down the stretch and it was nice for the results to go our way for a change, everyone played their role and contributed well,” Wright said. “Harry was huge tonight, he was strong around the rim and used his body well. He just needs to focus on being the best player he can be and good things are going to happen.”
Former player Mitch Creek echoed his coach Simon Mitchell’s words of how much he loved the way they played and that they play the right way, but was obviously frustrated at the missed opportunities to steal the W. “There were lots of emotions coming back against the Sixers but I missed a shot at the end and I don’t care about personal performance,” Creek said. “It’s all about the team and we lost the game when we had our chances to win and that’s what is most disappointing.”
DO THE STATS LIE?
The Sixers dropped 35 points in the third quarter to break open the game through the hot streak of Froling who dropped 14 points from 4 of 5 shooting in his most productive quarter and game of the season. The advantage the Sixers produced was not taken of as they shot 64 percent from the charity stripe and gave up four extra offensive rebounds. They did however have one of their most productive bench scoring performances of the season of 53 points.
Creek came to life halfway through the second quarter as he reeled off 25 of his 27 points for the night while the Phoenix’s perimeter play was contained reasonably well by the Sixers keeping them to 34.3 percent. In the last quarter however they were 7 of 12 with Adam Gibson a perfect 3 of 3.
WHATS NEXT FOR THE SIXERS
A huge win in the context of the season for the Sixers and when some of the guns like DJ and Drmic were down in the third, the Froling third quarter could be the most crucial performance for the club in the season. With a 2-1 winning record over the Phoenix, a chance to knock off the Breakers on their home floor this afternoon and with the Illawarra Hawks, Taipans, Breakers and Wildcats to follow the Sixers can get on a mini-roll. That of course depends if as Joey so eloquently put on the team during the second quarter they do “the little things” then everyone will get their piece of the pie and a spot in the NBL20 Finals series.
ADELAIDE 36ERS 113 (RANDLE 26, GRIFFIN 20, FROLING 19, DRMIC 12, D JOHNSON, TEYS 11) DEFEATED SE MELBOURNE PHOENIX 111 (CREEK 27, ROBERSON 22, WESLEY, MADGEN 11, GIBSON, PINEAU, BENSON 9)
*This article is a duplicate of an article written for publishing for And The Foul.net and may appear before or after publishing
CROSS OVER DRIBBLE 