Wounded Bullets fight hard in Traralgon

The Brisbane Bullets fought valiantly for more than three quarters but the casualty list was too much to overcome in the finish in Traralgon with the South East Melbourne Phoenix winning 105-86 on Saturday night.

The Bullets arrived at Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium fresh off hitting back for an important win at home over the New Zealand Breakers on Wednesday night knowing they were a chance to break into the top six with a victory.

They came into the game missing centre Tyrell Harrison while they did regain Rocco Zikarsky, Josh Adams and Keandre Cook who all missed that win against the Breakers.

For three quarters the Bullets delivered a strong performance too despite losing Deng Adel and Emmett Naar in the first half to injuries, with Mitch Norton hurting a hand and taking on an in-form opposition.

However, the Bullets led by as much as 11 points early in the second half and then it remained a tight contest until the moment Josh Bannan's standout performance ended with a slip on the wet floor and injuring his knee.

The Bullets finished the game with 19 offensive rebounds for 17 second chance points, and you couldn’t fault their fighting spirit, but in the end they just ran out of bodies.

Before hurting his knee in the fourth quarter, Bannan had compiled 23 points and nine rebounds on the back of shooting 8/14 from the floor and 7/10 at the foul line.

Casey Prather continued his strong form with another 21 points and 11 rebounds with Keandre Cook contributing 11 points and four boards, Mitch Norton 10 points and three rebounds, and the returning Rocco Zikarsky seven points and two boards.

Josh Adams also had seven points and two rebounds, Isaac White three points and two boards, Deng Adel two points and two rebounds, and Tohi Smith-Milner two points and four boards.

Matt Hurt ended up top-scoring for South East Melbourne with 32 points while Nathan Sobey scored 31 points and Joe Wieskamp 16.

In the absence of Tyrell Harrison, Josh Bannan started in the five spot for the Bullets and started on fire with three early buckets either side of three-pointers to Mitch Norton and Casey Prather for Brisbane to lead 12-6.

The Bullets were still leading 21-17 by the end of the first quarter when Keandre Cook hit a triple on the buzzer as well and Brisbane had shot 8/20 from the field for the term opposed to the 6/22 for the Phoenix.

Prather and Bannan then combined for Brisbane's first 12 points of the second quarter and on the back of that the lead grew to eight points, and was soon out to 12 when Cook hit his second long ball of the contest.

Prather then also hit from downtown on the half-time buzzer to have 13 points in the half while Bannan had 21 and the Bullets were leading 54-47 thanks to shooting 52 per cent as a team up against the 38 per cent from South East Melbourne.

Prather then started the second half on fire for the Bullets with three consecutive buckets and the lead was suddenly back out to 11 points, but the Phoenix responded with the 10 straight points.

It remained a tight contest with the Phoenix leading 69-68 by three quarter-time but the game turned significantly when Bannan slipped and injured his knee and was unable to return joining Deng Adel and Emmett Naar already ruled out of the game, and with Josh Adams and Norton hurting.

South East Melbourne went on a 20-2 run to break the game wide open and to eventually score the 19-point victory.

The Bullets now return home to play host to the Perth Wildcats at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Wednesday night in what shapes as another pivotal match up with a team above them.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

BRISBANE BULLETS 86 (Bannan 23, Prather 21, Cook 11)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 105 (Hurt 32, Sobey 31, Wieskamp 16)

BOX SCORE