On the same dramatic play, Phoenix shooting guard Angus Glover sustained an ankle injury and had to be helped off the court wincing in pain.<\/p>\n
But Phoenix found a way with Sobey hitting two free throws to restore a four-point lead for Phoenix with 24 seconds left before a contested rebound on a missed Kristian Doolittle shot went off the fingers of Windler and Phoenix held on.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761200708_112_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
It maintains Phoenix\u2019s unbeaten record on their home floor, improving to 4-0 in front of their home fans and 6-2 overall on the season.<\/p>\n
NEW CONTENDER?<\/p>\n
The question remains though, are the Phoenix genuine championship contenders?<\/p>\n
The answer to that might be found when they face undefeated crosstown rivals Melbourne United next Sunday, but they have a tricky trip to Tasmania to negotiate before that on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Sobey, the most prolific scorer for Phoenix this season, hunted his shot aggressively out of the blocks.<\/p>\n
The captain landed two threes as part of an eight-point opening quarter that kept Phoenix in touch.<\/p>\n
The hugely influential veteran finished with a game-high 22 points, including four threes, with five rebounds, two steals and two blocks.<\/p>\n
When Phoenix needed a steadying influence, they turned to young guard Owen Foxwell.<\/p>\n
NZ Breakers HAMMER Illawarra Hawks | 01:10<\/p>\n
BACKCOURT BOOST<\/p>\n
Foxwell has formed a lethal back court combination with Sobey and was again a menace with 20 points, five assists and two steals.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats have significantly lengthened their lineup in the post-Bryce Cotton era, and it has ushered in a more unpredictable style of play with no over reliance on a single scorer.<\/p>\n
No fewer than nine players got on the scoresheet and four players in double digits.<\/p>\n
The go-to guy at the death was Doolittle, who finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.<\/p>\n
Bullets claim first home win of season | 00:51<\/p>\n
DOOLITTLE DOES A LOT<\/p>\n
It would appear the Wildcats are now Doolittle\u2019s team – even if there is more of a willingness to get others involved.<\/p>\n
Wildcats centre Lual-Acuil Jr, strangely quiet in the first period, exploded to life in the second as the scores were level on 46 apiece at half-time.<\/p>\n
Lual-Acuil Jr was restricted to 13 points – a definite win within the game for Phoenix.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats answered a Phoenix 5-0 run at the start of the third with an 8-0 run of their own that was halted by a Jordan Hunter three.<\/p>\n
Jaron Rillie, the son of Wildcats coach John, was superb in his first venture into Melbourne with 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds. <\/p>\n
The Phoenix took a three-point lead into the fourth after a buzzer beating two from Brown almost lifted the roof off the arena.<\/p>\n
After Phoenix opened up some breathing space with an eight-point lead, Wildcats guard Ben Henshall got the visitors back in the game with a pair of threes and it was a single basket game again.<\/p>\n
It was the fresher Phoenix, playing their first game in eight days, who finished the game out stronger as they laid claim to the best-f-the-rest title at this stage of the season.<\/p>\n
NBL SCOREBOARD<\/p>\n
South East Melbourne Phoenix 94 (Sobey 22 Foxwell 20 Brown III 12) d Perth Wildcats 89 (Doolittle 19 Rilie 16 Windler 15)<\/p>\n
At John Cain Arena, Melbourne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South East Melbourne Phoenix is riding a wave of confidence after claiming a fourth consecutive victory. The Phoenix…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[151639,1813,64,63,689,151640,151637,726,33013,151635,56809,151656,151657,3499,151644,151650,151643,151636,151655,2105,151648,151652,151647,36734,151649,151651,8084,647,142094,677,151653,151642,96979,151646,151641,151645,85,2801,23055,151654,660,151638],"class_list":["post-257108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-angus-glover","tag-ankle-injury","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-back-court-combination","tag-backcourt-boost","tag-basketball","tag-ben-henshall","tag-best-f-the-rest-title","tag-breathing-space","tag-consecutive-game","tag-consecutive-victory","tag-daniel-pockett","tag-definite-win","tag-dramatic-finish","tag-eight-point-lead","tag-eight-point-opening-quarter","tag-genuine-championship-contenders","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-go-to-guy","tag-grind-it-out-game","tag-home-floor","tag-jack-mcveigh","tag-jaron-rillie","tag-john-cain-arena","tag-lance-jenkinson","tag-melbourne","tag-nathan-sobey","tag-oceania","tag-offensive-foul","tag-owen-foxwell","tag-shooting-guard","tag-single-basket-game","tag-single-scorer","tag-spectacular-block","tag-sports","tag-tasmania","tag-title-contender","tag-undefeated-crosstown-rivals","tag-victoria","tag-young-guard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}