Bullets go down to 36ers in Adelaide

It wasn’t the resumption of the NBL season the Brisbane Bullets were hoping for with the Adelaide 36ers winning 90-65 on Friday night as they now turn their attention to bouncing back with two games next week.

The Bullets resumed their NBL season on Friday at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, but with trying to integrate new import Terry Taylor, and Tohi Smith-Milner, Taine Murray, Tyrell Harrison and Alex Ducas all fresh off FIBA World Cup Qualifying action, it was a challenge to quickly come together.

In the end, Adelaide took advantage to score the 25-point win against the Bullets who will now refocus on being away to the Illawarra Hawks next Thursday and then hosting the Perth Wildcats on Sunday.

Even though the Bullets ended up taking 15 extra field goals for the game, they only shot 33 per cent from the field to the 48 per cent from Adelaide who also were able to go 23/28 at the foul line opposed to the 6/9 only from Brisbane.

Dakota Mathias ended up top scoring for the Bullets with 14 points with three rebounds and two assists on 4/11 three-point shooting.

Tristan Devers knocked down 4/6 from the field and 2/3 from deep for 12 points and four assists while Alex Ducas contributed 12 points and three rebounds, Tyrell Harrison 11 points and 10 boards, and the returning Sam McDaniel six points and two rebounds.

Newly arrived import Terry Taylor finished with three points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals on 1/8 shooting in his NBL debut.

Both Bryce Cotton and Zylan Cheatham finished with 20 points for the 36ers with Isaac Humphries contributing 16 points, five rebounds and two blocks, and former Bullets guard Isaac White 10 points, four boards and three assists.

Tyrell Harrison did open the game's scoring in a promising start for the Bullets before the 36ers scored the next seven points only for Alex Ducas to respond with a couple of buckets for Brisbane.

Dakota Mathias hit five straight points including a three ball later in the first quarter with Harrison also converting a three-point play, and then Sam McDaniel hitting a first field goal in his return game.

Brisbane even hit the front before Adelaide scored the last five points of the first quarter to be leading 23-20 by quarter-time with the Bullets getting up six extra shots with six offensive boards.

The game got away from the Bullets in the second quarter where scoring just became decidedly tough and they managed just the 13 points on 5/17 shooting without getting to take a single free-throw either while the 36ers had eight for the period.

Adelaide also scored 27 points of their own to be leading 50-33 by half-time and things didn’t get much better in the third frame for the Bullets as they managed just the 12 points the 36ers leading 71-45 by three quarter-time.

Then in the fourth quarter, Brisbane were able to limit Adelaide to 13 points and scored 20 themselves including going on an 11-0 run with the last nine of those coming from Tristan Devers where he landed a couple of three balls.

Taine Murray also hit another before full-time from behind the arc but it didn't stop the 36ers winning by 25 in the finish.

The Bullets now have another away clash with the Illawarra Hawks on Thursday night before returning to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre to host the Perth Wildcats next Sunday afternoon.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26

BRISBANE BULLETS 65 (Mathias 14, Devers 12, Ducas 12)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 90 (Cotton 20, Cheatham 20, Humphries 16)

BOX SCORE