36ers keep season alive with big win

The Adelaide 36ers have continued their midseason rejuvenation under interim coach Scott Ninnis and extended the misery for the South East Melbourne Phoenix with a crushing 110-85 road win.

While the Sixers have been vastly improved under Ninnis since he replaced CJ Bruton for his second stint as head coach in Adelaide, one thing he was yet to do was win on the road.

They missed a golden opportunity on Saturday in Cairns ending up losing in overtime to the Taipans after leading by 22, but there was no such problems as they took full advantage of a Phoenix team still missing Alan Williams and down on confidence. 

The last-placed Sixers set up their blowout victory, their third from their last four starts, with a commanding first half, smashing the Phoenix 34-23 and 34-17 in the opening two quarters to quickly silence the sold-out crowd at Melbourne's State Basketball Centre on Wednesday night.

The win was just the 36ers' second from 11 road games while eighth-ranked Phoenix have now lost four in a row by a whopping total margin of 96 points.

The absence of Williams with a knee complaint was no excuse for the pitiful first-half defence from South East Melbourne.

Red-hot Adelaide, also down import power forward Jacob Wiley (heel), made the Phoenix pay, hitting 8-of-11 three-pointers and 18-of-18 free throws in the first half.

Isaac Humphries (25 points) feasted inside without Williams to contend with, unsung Kyrin Galloway (23 points, 5-of-7 triples) had the performance of his 91-game NBL career and guard Trey Kell III (21 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals) continued his purple patch.

Galloway, whose previous career-best was 16 points, kickstarted the rout, racking up 15 first-quarter points at 100 per cent, including two swished threes and two acrobatic tip-jams as the Sixers repeatedly got downhill and did as they pleased.

The Phoenix closed to 23-26 before Adelaide finished the quarter with another 8-0 burst, thanks to a Galloway layup and successive Jason Cadee (nine points, 3-of-5 from deep) triples.

It got even uglier in the second period for the Phoenix, whose awful defence was now augmented by a sagging offence.

Only returning import Abdel Nader (18 points) offered any resistance against the 36ers, whose pristine ball movement and incredible shooting left South East Melbourne shellshocked.

Galloway started the third stanza with his fourth trey, stretching the Sixers' huge cushion to 71-40 before the Phoenix belatedly showed some steel after half-time but left their run far too late.

In the end, Adelaide shot 50 per cent from the floor to 40 from the Phoenix, made 12-of-28 from three to 10-of-30, and feasted at the foul line with 24-of-26 opposed to 13-of-18.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 16

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 85 (Nader 18, Creek 14, Gak 12)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 110 (Humphries 25, Galloway 23, Kell 21)

BOX SCORE