Gaels Overrun Phoenix in OT Thriller

The South East Melbourne Phoenix and Saint Mary's Gaels played out an overtime thriller at Frankston Stadium on Wednesday night with the travelling outfit scoring the first 12 points in the extra period to end up winning 86-74.

The St Mary's College tour of Australia continued on Wednesday night and what better way to get ready for your upcoming college season than playing a professional basketball team and being pushed to overtime to play under that pressure.

South East Melbourne did open up a 17-point lead during the first half with the defence of Owen Foxwell, and leadership of Kyle Adnam and Reuben Te Rangi behind them getting on top in their first hit out ahead of NBL23.

However, the Gaels worked their way back into the contest with big man Mitchell Saxen and gun scorer Aidan Mahaney leading the charge. 

After briefly grabbing the lead in the fourth quarter but then seeing the game go to overtime, Saint Mary's quickly went up five in the extra period and scored the first 12 points before winning by 12.

While Mahaney top-scored for the Gaels with 24 points and Saxen had 20 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, the Australian trio did plenty of good things.

West Australian trio Alex Ducas (18 points, 11 rebounds), Kyle Bowen (two points, seven rebounds, two assists) and Harry Wessels (two points, four rebounds) will all now look forward to finishing the tour back home in Perth to play the Geraldton Buccaneers on Friday and Perth Wildcats on Sunday.

Friday's clash will be especially special for Ducas having come out of Geraldton and in his last game for the Buccaneers he helped lift them to the 2019 NBL1 West (then SBL) championship.

Kyle Adnam only played 19 minutes for South East Melbourne but was the only player to score in double-figures finishing with 12 points and five assists.

The ever entertaining and bundle of energy Venky Jois put up nine points and four rebounds in just 18 minutes while Reuben Te Rangi, Junior Madut, Ngor Manyang and Tohi Smith-Milner all scored eight points.

Owen Foxwell also had seven points and three steals.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">? The king of Frankston signing EVERYTHING! ? <a href="https://t.co/YoFivWEiEr">pic.twitter.com/YoFivWEiEr</a></p>&mdash; South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1557324182882398208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

After St Mary's defeated Melbourne United 88-67 on Tuesday night at Keilor Stadium, the Gaels arrived at Frankston Stadium on Wednesday to take on a Phoenix team getting ready to make amends for missing the playoffs last NBL season.

While there was no Mitch Creek for South East Melbourne nor new imports Trey Kell, Gary Browne and Alan Willams, the Phoenix still had Reuben Te Rangi, Dane Pineau, Ryan Broekhoff and Kyle Adnam out there to lead the charge.

They were topped up with players desperate to impress including Adam Thoseby, Tohi Smith-Milner and Venky Jois as well, and it was Te Rangi who was the standout in the first quarter.

In form from playing in the NBL1 South for the Knox Raiders, he put up eight points to help the Phoenix to the eight-point lead over the Gaels.

It has been an eventful season for Thoseby who started the season at the defending NBL1 West champion Perry Lakes Hawks where things didn’t quite work out, but he showed what he could do to start the second period.

Another player from out west, Warwick Senators championship winner and current Diamond Valley Eagles NBL1 South teammate of DJ Vasiljevic, Ngor Manyang kept the Phoenix on top and they led by as much as 17 points in the second period before leading 45-30 at half-time.

Saint Mary's worked their way back into the contest during the third term to close the gap to nine at three quarter-time, and then suddenly with just four minutes to go the margin was five soon after a finish of an offensive rebound from Augustus Marciulionis. 

It was Cockburn Cougars product Harry Wessels who then scored inside to make it a three-point ball game and soon after it was Marciulionis again who made it a one-point game after the margin was 17 earlier.

Two free-throws from Aidan Mahaney then gave the Gaels the lead before Venky Jois showed that trademark passion that saw him a popular presence in previous NBL stints to regain the lead for South East Melbourne.

A long bomb from Mahaney was the next big play to come to give Saint Mary's the lead but Owen Foxwell's defence again came to the fore when he stole the ball up top off Marciulionis. He was fouled on the breakaway and made both to tie scores up with 45 seconds to play.

The game then went to overtime and it was Mitchell Saxen scoring on the inside first before Mahaney hit a jumper and then got to the rack to make it a seven-point game with under two minutes to go.

St Mary's then went on to win by 12 but it was a game where both teams took plenty out of as they gear up for their respective 2022/23 seasons.

NBL23 PRE-SEASON

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 74 (Adnam 12, Jois 9, Smith-Milner 8, Manyang 8, Te Rangi 8, Madut 8)

SAINT MARY'S GAELS 86 (Mahaney 24, Saxen 20, Ducas 18) 

BOX SCORE