Holt a bright spark on rough night for Bullets

Melbourne United were able to continue their resurgence beating the Brisbane Bullets 98-66 in Bendigo on Wednesday but it wasn’t a night without positives with Jacob Holt making his first nine shots and having an NBL career-best performance.

The Bullets were looking to keep their Ignite Cup by Disney+ hopes alive and to knock off United when they did battle at Red Energy Arena in Bendigo on Wednesday night, but it wasn’t to be.

Brisbane ended up playing catch up the entire way with Melbourne going on to score the 32-point victory with the Bullets now sitting on a 6-21 record having lost seven straight with just six matches remaining in NBL26.

The great positive out of the game for the Bullets was the performance of rookie big man Jacob Holt who continues to shine in the absence of Tyrell Harrison who remains in concussion protocols.

Holt made his first nine shot attempts and ended up going 9/10 from the field and 4/4 from three-point territory on his way to 23 points along with eight rebounds.

Hunter Maldonado also ended up with 11 points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists for Brisbane with Jensen Bradtke having six points and three rebounds having made the first two field goals of his career.

Terry Taylor added five points, four assists and three rebounds, Mitch Norton five points and two assists, Taine Murray four points, Tristan Devers four points, two rebounds and two assists, Cal Dalton two points, and Tohi Smith-Milner two points, two boards and two assists.

Alex Ducas could have joined the casualty ward with the Bullets too when he hurt a hip during the second quarter and didn't return to the game.

Tyson Walker top-scored for Melbourne with 17 points along with five assists with Finn Delany adding 15 points and seven rebounds, Milton Doyle 14 points, four boards and four assists, and Chris Goulding 13 points and three assists.

Melbourne started with a play run for hometown boy Dash Daniels but Brisbane got on the board thanks to Jacob Holt even though United soon got out to an 11-3 lead leading to a Darryl McDonald timeout.

The Bullets responded well out of that with buckets to Alex Ducas and Holt, and then Terry Taylor also landed a three-pointer, but United responded with a run of four quick three-pointers and were leading 29-19 by quarter-time as a result.

Melbourne's lead got out to 20 early in the second quarter before the Bullets got a couple of three balls on back-to-back possessions from big man Holt.

Mitch Norton also landed another three-pointer before half-time but it was United leading 57-36 at the break with a half-court bomb from Tyson Walker going into the break with the Bullets best served by 13 points on perfect 5/5 shooting from Holt.

The Bullets only managed to put up 14 points in the third quarter and with Melbourne adding another 24 including going on a 16-3 run at one stage, their lead was out to 81-50 by three quarter-time.

Holt came out and scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter for the Bullets including another three-pointer. Jensen Bradtke also made the first two field goals of his NBL career with five quick points but it couldn’t stop Melbourne going on to win by 32 points.

The Bullets will now return to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre to host the Illawarra Hawks on Australia Day Monday before backing up on Wednesday against the Adelaide 36ers at the Gold Coast Sport and Leisure Centre.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26 – IGNITE CUP PRESENTED BY DISNEY+

BRISBANE BULLETS 66 (Holt 23, Maldonado 11, Bradtke 6)

MELBOURNE UNITED 98 (Walker 17, Delany 15, Doyle 14)

BOX SCORE