NBL27 Match Recap: South East Melbourne Phoenix vs Melbourne United. 10 October 2026.

Melbourne United have come away with a 104-99 comeback win against their crosstown rival South East Melbourne Phoenix in a Throwdown presented by AXS.

The win takes their record to 24-10 in the matchup and is their second away win inside John Cain Arena in Hungry Jack’s NBL27 season.

The imports opened the scoring for United after a slow first two minutes. To start, Cole Anthony dropped in a layup off a flying move to the rim; a bucket that settled his team after a couple of early misses, and set the table for a steal and tomahawk slam from Mr. Consistent Josh Oduro on the following play. 

Despite opportunities to score over the next few minutes, United were unable to capitalise, and found themselves down 16-8 halfway through the first period following an 8-2 Phoenix run. 

Just after entering the game, United’s offence kicked into gear with Joe Ingles behind the wheel, as a nice set left Oduro open for a jump hook that he knocked down without a thought. 

With two minutes left in the quarter, Ingles knocked down his, and United’s first three, to cut the Phoenix lead to seven, making the ring look a bit bigger for the boys in blue. 

A quick Phoenix 8-0 run left United looking for answers as time ticked down in the period, but it didn’t take long for those answers to become clear.

First, Fabijan Krslovic dropped in a floater off a big-to-big dish from Sam Waardenburg. Then, Luke Travers shot out of a cannon and took the ball coast-to-coast for a slam dunk. 

As the buzzer sounded to end the quarter, United found themselves in a 30-17 hole after some red hot outside shooting from the Phoenix ballooned their advantage.

The second period started with urgency from the away team, evident in their back-to-back blocks on the defensive end at the hands of Shea Ili and Oduro. 

The two-time NBL Defensive Player of the Year’s energy was palpable, and kicked off a 6-0 run for Melbourne. Machar posterized a Phoenix defender with a huge slam for his first bucket; a move Waardenburg then attempted to replicate, taking it to the chest of his opponent for an open court layup. 

After a Phoenix response, Anthony took control of the game, kissing a floater off the glass and in, and beating South East down the floor for a layup for consecutive buckets.

Despite this, the crosstown rivals kept coming, and United found themselves down 15 with just over five minutes left in the half, and their work cut out for them. 

Three straight offensive rebounds and a steal on defence gave Melbourne a mini-run of their own, and importantly, put them in the bonus for the rest of the first half. 

Travers, with energy of his own, did some more damage in the open court with a pair of buckets to cut United’s deficit to single digits, bringing the game back within reach with two minutes left in the quarter. 

Despite leaving food on the table with poor foul shooting, Melbourne ended the half with a much more manageable deficit than at the end of the first, down 53-45 going into the break. 

United’s relentlessness is what gave them the advantage in the second quarter, as they hauled in six offensive rebounds to the Phoenix’s two, and got to the line 17 times.

Oduro opened the second half strong, using a beautiful dropstep to put his defender under the ring and give him an easy look for two. 

Travers followed up with two close looks of his own, putting back an Oduro miss and knocking down a push shot to cut into United’s deficit early. 

Machar, who didn’t miss a shot all game, dragged United’s deficit down to five with back-to-back dunks, taking his game total to ten, making the contest his second double digit scoring performance in a week. 

As United took over the third quarter, the Throwdown energy livened up, after a pair threes from Ingles and Tom Wilson, and another hoop with the harm from Travers sent section 62 into a frenzy and gave Melbourne their first lead since early in the first quarter.

Both sides traded buckets to end the period, highlighted by a dunk and a three point make from Travers, taking his game tally to a contest high 19, bringing the scores level at 74 a piece going into the fourth.

United’s three point shooting efficiency turned the tide in the third, as the team shot 4/9 from deep going into the fourth.

The imports started the final quarter like they started the game, with four points; Anthony knocking down a step-back jumper, and Oduro making both his free throws as a result of his tireless rim pressure. 

Oduro’s effort continued to shine, as he engulfed a Nathan Sobey shot attempt with attitude on the defensive end. 

Machar then stole back some momentum with a three from the corner, responding to a Phoenix triple and silencing the home crowd. 

The game continued back and forth until Waardenburg went on a solo 6-0 run, knocking down a deep contested triple and getting three points the old fashioned way to give United a four point lead with five minutes left in the contest. 

With the game in the balance, United’s stars went to work. Travers, who was having his most efficient night of the season thus far, made another three pointer, and Oduro made a shot through contact for an and-1, taking their game scoring tallys to 22 and 19 respectively. 

With just over two minutes left, United’s stellar defence shone again, as the Travers masterclass continued with a perfectly timed block of another Sobey layup attempt, and Anthony forced a shot-clock violation with a block of his own. 

United’s comeback reached its apex with a minute and a half left, as another set of big-to-big action saw Waardenburg slamming in an alley-oop pass from Oduro, giving Melbourne a 100-94 lead. 

Despite missing a number of free-throws in the first half, Melbourne made them when they needed it most, and as a result, walked away with a 104-99 win, holding their seat on the throne as the best team in Melbourne. 

United’s cohesion in the second half led to their best stretch of basketball in NBL27. The side scored 59 second half points, a season high, and made seven three-pointers compared to one in the first half. 

Defensively, the league’s best proved excellent again, blocking eight of the Phoenix’s shots, a season high for any team in the NBL.

Melbourne United next take the court as the home team in their annual Grassroots Game inside John Cain Arena against the Illawarra Hawks at 5:00pm on Sunday October 18. 

To catch all the action live, get your tickets now via AXS.

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