Vague fires, Browne leads in first Phoenix showing

Rhys Vague showed what a valuable addition he will be to the South East Melbourne Phoenix for NBL24 with Gary Browne running the ship expertly in Sunday's 87-62 pre-season victory against the California Baptist Lancers.

It was a third game in four days for the touring Lancers team from California Baptist University, following a 27-point defeat on Thursday night to the Brisbane Bullets and then also going down to Melbourne United by 28 points on Saturday evening.

They were back at it on Sunday at midday at the State Basketball Centre with the Phoenix having their first pre-season hit out ahead of the 2023/24 NBL season, under the stewardship of new head coach Mike Kelly.

South East Melbourne were still without Mitch Creek, Will Cummings, Craig Moller, Matt Kenyon and Reuben Te Rangi for the hit-out with Cal Baptist, but there was plenty of star power out there, including returning imports Gary Browne and Alan Williams.

The Phoenix team also featured a player from each of the competing NBL1 South Grand Final teams from the previous evening, which saw Austin Rapp's Knox Raiders overcome Ben Ayre's Sandringham Sabres in a terrific contest on the same venue.

While South East Melbourne did start well with 27 points to 15 in the opening quarter, the Lancers responded well to make a game of it, limiting the Phoenix lead to 44-34 by the half-time break.

The Phoenix then came out and delivered their most impressive basketball of the afternoon in the third quarter, with 25 points to 10 to end up leading by as much as 28 points, and then eventually scoring the 25-point victory.

Returning import point guard Gary Browne was impressive ahead of his second season with the Phoenix, finishing with 17 points, seven assists and three rebounds.

Rhys Vague was another standout for South East Melbourne, with the four-time Perth Wildcats NBL championship winner making his return to the league this season with the Phoenix after a successful stint in Japan.

His three-point shooting has come along in leaps and bounds, which has also led him to receiving opportunities with the Australian Boomers, and he knocked down three-from-six from beyond the arc, on his way to 12 points and six rebounds.

Development player Austin Rissetto showed good signs of his growth too, with 13 points and four rebounds on four-of-five shooting from the floor and five-of-five at the foul line, in 16 and-a-half minutes court time.

There were plenty more contributors for the Phoenix too, with Owen Foxwell adding eight points and three assists on the back of his NBL1 South season at the Eltham Wildcats.

Ngor Nai also contributed eight points for South East Melbourne, Luke Rosendale seven points and two rebounds, Ben Ayre six points and three assists, Austin Rapp six points, three boards and two blocks, Alan Williams five points and three rebounds, and NBL1 West Best Defensive Player Gorjok Gak five points, nine boards and three assists.

It was the third game in four days the Cal Baptist Lancers, with Dominique Daniels Jr finishing with 12 points and two assists despite struggling to shoot 4/17 from the field.

Scotty Washington added nine points, Brantly Stevenson eight points and two rebounds, Kendal Coleman six points and 10 boards, and Malik Wade six points, two rebounds and two assists.

That brings to an end the trip to Australia against NBL opponents for California Baptis,t while the Phoenix will focus on their pre-season, training before taking on the Adelaide 36ers on Friday September 1 ahead of the NBL Blitz on the Gold Coast.

NBL24 PRE-SEASON GAME

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 87 (Browne 17, Rissetto 1, Vague 12)
CALIFORNIA BAPTIST LANCERS 62 (Daniels Jr 12, Washington 9, Stevenson 8) 

BOX SCORE