Bullets with win to savour in Adelaide

Missing a handful of players, coming up against a team in form and who plays well at home, and the Brisbane Bullets had it stacked against them but they produced a stirring effort for a stunning 92-89 win over the Adelaide 36ers.

There was plenty working against the Bullets as they arrived at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre still missing Tyrell Harrison, Rocco Zikarsky, Josh Bannan, Emmett Naar and Deng Adel.

They had lost five of their past six matches ahead of coming up against a 36ers team having won three straight and six of the past eight while looking to cap off their home season with a win in front of another sold out crowd.

However, the Bullets were in for the fight right from the outset, took it right to the 36ers from the start and for the majority of the contest outworked them, outwilled them and took them out of their strengths to end up with the memorable and gutsy three-point victory.

There was so much to like in the performance from the Bullets including holding the 36ers to just five fast break points and only nine second chance points along with 43 per cent field goal shooting and 7/24 from three-point range.

Opposed to that, Brisbane went at 45 per cent with 13/36 from downtown along with having 17 points from the 11 36ers turnovers, 15 fast break points and 14 second chance points on eight offensive rebounds.

Casey Prather continued his dazzling form with another 26 points and seven rebounds while shooting 10/20 from the floor and 5/6 at the foul line.

Keandre Cook came up big as well with 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals with Tohi Smith-Milner battling hard down low for 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Isaac White 13 points, four assists and two steals.

Captain Mitch Norton played brilliant defence on Kendric Davis along with having 10 points, five rebounds and three assists on 3/5 three-point shooting with Josh Adams providing 10 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Callum Dalton two points and three boards.

Davis finished with 24 points and 10 assists for Adelaide but he did shoot 7/22 from the field and 1/8 from three-point range with DJ Vasiljevic adding 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Montrezl Harrell 20 points and 10 boards.

Tohi Smith-Milner and Casey Prather knocked down early three-pointers for the Bullets but the 36ers had an early lead thanks to all eight of their first points coming at the foul line.

Prather ended up scoring nine early points to keep Brisbane close and then Mitch Norton hit a three-pointer, and Keandre Cook scored on the quarter-time buzzer to give the Bullets the 22-21 lead.

Cook started the second quarter with a couple of buckets and then Norton and Smith-Milner both hit three-pointers and the Bullets were leading for the majority of the second quarter including by as much as four.

But the 36ers scored the last five points of the half to go into the break leading 45-42 on the back of 14 free throws to nine from the Bullets with most other areas close especially Brisbane's shooting of 15/37 opposed to Adelaide's 15/38.

Adelaide did get the better of the start to the second half and even opened up a seven-point lead, but Brisbane did well to avoid letting it blew out including five quick points to Isaac White.

Norton then kicked started a 9-0 run that was completed with back-to-back three balls from Smith-Milner, and from there the Bullets turned that into a five-point lead at three quarter-time.

Brisbane came out firing to start the fourth frame too with the opening eight points to open up a game-high 13-point advantage.

However, the Sixers responded with the next 11 points to make it a two-point game but the Bullets would continue to have the answers the rest of the way.

Adams made consecutive big shots before fouling out and appearing to hurt his ribs in a collision with Kenric Davis before White nailed another massive corner three to push the lead back out to seven.

The biggest shot of the night proved to come from Cook with 20 seconds to go when he dropped a three ball to give Brisbane a five-point edge again which they turned into the three-point win.

The Bullets finish their regular season next Thursday night and it's a Sunshine Stoush battle with the Cairns Taipans in Far North Queensland.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

BRISBANE BULLETS 92 (Prather 26, Cook 17, Smith-Milner 14)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 89 (Davis 24, Harrell 20, Vasiljevic 20)

BOX SCORE