Broekhoff breaks out as Phoenix break Hawks

A remarkable run of 24 points that included Ryan Broekhoff's NBL breakout showing has seen the South East Melbourne Phoenix turn a one-point half-time lead into a 95-63 crushing of the Illawarra Hawks on Thursday night.

The Hawks were playing consecutive home games at WIN Entertainment Centre for the first time this season and should have been feeling good after Monday's 96-72 win against the Brisbane Bullets.

They did start well enough to lead by 10 at quarter-time having ended the opening term on a 16-5 run with Justinian Jessup on fire. But by half-time the Phoenix had turned that into a one-point edge, and then they dominated the second half.

In a performance showing just why he has appeared in the NBA as a sharpshooter, Broekhoff delivered plenty for the Phoenix in his fifth NBL appearance. 

He knocked down three three-pointers alone as South East Melbourne scored the last 24 points of the third quarter to turn a one-point deficit into a 23-point lead at three quarter-time. 

Broekhoff knocked down another triple as part of another 15-2 run for the Phoenix in the fourth quarter on their way to the 32-point win in the most emphatic response to a 20-point loss to Melbourne imaginable.

After Illawarra was leading by 10 at quarter-time and before the Hawks scored six of the game's last nine points, South East Melbourne outscored them 77 points to 32 in a remarkable period of play that was all sparked by the hot shooting of Broekhoff.

He finished his best of five NBL games with 26 points and six rebounds while knocking down 7/11 from downtown. As a team the Phoenix went 16/34 from deep with Cam Gliddon hitting 5/9 on his way to 15 points too to go with five assists.

Yanni Wetzell was a powerful presence inside with 18 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three blocks on 7/8 shooting as Ben Moore offered good support with 12 points and six rebounds.

Kyle Adnam stood out again in the absence of Keifer Sykes for 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell couldn’t have been happier with what his team delivered on the road. 

"We were down early and I thought we made some silly errors and fumbled the ball a little bit as a bit of a hangover from the Melbourne United game," Mitchell said. 

"But in a timeout we talked about what we needed to do to execute and be solid on the road because it's been a little while since we've done it. 

"It was just a bit of a reminder of the important things that you need to take care of when you are in an environment that's a little hostile who were nice and loud and supporting their home team. It was good the way we responded to that."

Despite Justinian Jessup scoring 21 points and going 3/6 from downtown, the rest of the Hawks team shot 1/17 from three-point territory.

Tyler Harvey was brilliant on Monday in the win over Brisbane but was clearly hindered by a back complain and played just 17 minutes four points and three turnovers on 1/7 from the field.

Sam Froling had 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Deng Deng nine points on a rough night at home for the Hawks.

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian didn’t hold back in his shock at the poor performance minus Tyler Harvey and Cam Bairstow.

"It's really disappointing, soul searching and I wasn’t expecting that. But we're learning all the time and there are no excuses. We found out a bit about the team when Tyler's not there and that's who we play through on the perimeter," Goorjian said. 

"He runs everything and then in the low block, the guy we roll the ball into and move off is Cam. We haven’t had that combination out but without them we had nothing offensively, zero. We had no perimeter threat, nothing on the box and that led to a letdown defensively. 

"I thought the guys that we have with those two out would defend, and that's the part that shocked me. They were lazy, allowing perimeter shots, poor on-ball defence, poor on the block out and I think everyone was in shock and didn’t expect that."

Justinian Jessup sparked Illawarra early with their first five points on a 9-5 run in response to the Phoenix's first five points. Jessup then hit another three soon after and then the Hawks went on a 10-3 run to close the first term and be in control 25-15 at quarter-time.

The game then took a fast turn and it was all sparked by Ryan Broekhoff for South East Melbourne. He hit two threes to start the second quarter, then added two more at the foul line and converted an and-one play to give his side the lead.

He had 14 for the first half and the Phoenix went into the break up 39-38.

There was nothing to indicate what was to come but with Illawarra up 46-45 after a couple of AJ Ogilvy, the Phoenix completely dominated. 

It started with a pair of Broekhoff threes before Yanni Wetzell, Ben Moore, Kyle Adnam, Cam Gliddon and Izayah Le'afa all chipped in before Broekhoff hit another triple as part of a 24-point run to close the third period.

Illawarra did score the first seven points of the fourth to be within 16, but triples to Adam Gibson and Broekhoff closed the door on any comeback. Gliddon then finished the game with three triples in the last two minutes as the Phoenix won impressively by 32.

The Hawks now head to Adelaide to play the 36ers on Saturday while the Phoenix are at home to the New Zealand Breakers on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 12

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 95 (Broekhoff 26, Wetzell 18, Gliddon 15)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 63 (Jessup 21, Froling 10, Deng 9) 

BOX SCORE