South East Melbourne Phoenix have heaped further misery on the winless Brisbane Bullets after completing a nail-biting 89-88 comeback victory thanks to a 31-point effort from Mitch Creek.
The Bullets jumped ahead by 11 points in the second quarter of Saturday's contest at John Cain Arena and led at every change but Creek's determination and clutch shooting at the death from new import Gary Browne allowed the home side to close out back-to-back wins.
Nathan Sobey twice reduced the margin to two points in the final minutes with long three-pointers but Browne answered with three free throws and a smooth jump shot to seemingly put the result beyond doubt.
Tanner Krebs' triple with six seconds to play handed Brisbane a lifeline with South East Melbourne's lead cut to one but the Phoenix were able to run out the clock and improve their win-loss record to 3-3.
Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell labelled Creek's performance as one of the best games he has ever seen him play.
"(He) carried us; he led us and he took us over the line tonight. It was a heroic effort on both sides of the ball," Mitchell said about Creek, who is battling a foot problem that prevents him from training during the week.
Brisbane's bottom-ranked defence faced a tough assignment against a full-strength Phoenix outfit that exploded for a franchise-best 38 first-quarter points in a comprehensive 22-point road victory over New Zealand Breakers on Thursday.
The Bullets stepped up at the defensive end in the first half to hold the home side to 41 points and establish a seven-point advantage at the main break, Jason Cadee leading a balanced scoring attack with 10 points.
But the home side hit back with a 14-2 run in the opening two and a half minutes of the third quarter to surge to the front, Creek leading the early onslaught on his way to 12 points for the term.
Brisbane answered back with Tyrell Harrison's late layup handing the visitors a 69-68 edge entering the fourth quarter but a six-minute stretch without a field goal proved costly as the Phoenix took the lead for good with three minutes left on the clock.
While the Bullets battled valiantly without promising forward DJ Mitchell, sidelined after copping a team suspension due to an incident at training, coach James Duncan was left frustrated at his side's struggles controlling the ball.
"We just need to value the ball and so we're not doing that at a high level right now and that's hurting us," Duncan said after his side gave up 17 turnovers for the night.
"We are giving those teams extra possessions, especially when it's a live ball situation and they're getting easy layups."
