Big moment, big trust for Brown III

The defence, rebounding and hustle John Brown III brings to the South East Melbourne Phoenix are unmatched, but his teammates also trusted him to become the match-winner with the ball in his hands in Perth.

It was fitting that a trademark, textbook screen from Brown III helped swing the result for the Phoenix, who scored just 26 points in the first half and trailed by 16 early in the third quarter against the Wildcats.

South East Melbourne willed its way back into the contest through effort, hauling in 19 offensive rebounds as Nathan Sobey and Jordan Hunter hit four triples apiece.

With Perth up two late, Brown III set a screen on Dylan Windler, who lashed out before the ball was inbounded. The Phoenix forward calmly knocked down the technical free throw to cut the margin to one.

On the final possession, the Phoenix went to a simple two-man game. Sobey found Brown III at the foul line, and he rose to drain the game-winning jumper.

The moment came shortly after a costly shot-clock violation, when Brown III handed the ball back to Sobey. Grateful for the trust shown again, Brown III credited his teammate’s belief.

“He (Sobey) still had faith in me even after screwing up the first one which I shouldn’t,” Brown III said.

“I wasn’t going to do it twice, so he had faith in me to throw it again after I did some BS, because I probably wouldn’t have thrown it to myself after that.”

Brown III has built his career on defence, rebounding and physicality, all of which he has delivered in spades for South East Melbourne this season. Now anchoring the five, he has allowed Jordan Hunter to slide into a shooting role.

Even at 33, moments like Thursday night still matter. Knocking down a game-winning shot felt good, and the technical free throw he took less than 10 seconds earlier proved the confidence boost he needed.

“Shoot, (I was just thinking) thank goodness with the way I've been shooting tonight I didn't have really much lift in my legs, but you just gotta keep shooting,” Brown III said.

“It helped a lot (tech foul) to give me some confidence to shoot it again and it definitely gave me confidence in my teammate to pass it to me.”

The Phoenix have been the league’s highest-scoring team this season, playing at the fastest pace and launching more threes than anyone. Thursday night, however, was a win built differently.

South East Melbourne shot just 35 per cent from the field and 27 per cent from deep, but dominated the possession battle. They pulled down 19 offensive rebounds, forced 13 Perth turnovers and found a way.

Brown III believes those types of wins will pay dividends.

“It can help us down in the long run because when we get down in the dumps of February/March, it's going to get tougher and our bodies might break down,” Brown III said.

“So we just gotta do the right things, keep relying on each other and just keep pushing every day.”