The Adelaide 36ers have continued their midseason rejuvenation under interim coach Scott Ninnis and extended South East Melbourne's misery, crushing the Phoenix 110-85 in the NBL.
The last-placed Sixers set up their blowout victory, their third from their last four starts, with a commanding first half, smashing the Phoenix 34-23 and 34-17 in the opening two quarters to quickly silence the sold-out crowd at Melbourne's State Basketball Centre on Wednesday night.
"It's exciting to have a win like that," Ninnis said. "To jump out to a good lead and hold it for the majority of the game was great.
"I can feel us building as a group."
The win was just the 36ers' second from 11 road games while eighth-ranked Phoenix have now lost four in a row by a whopping total margin of 96 points.
SEM were undermanned after star import centre Alan Williams pulled out with a knee injury, but that was no excuse for their pitiful first-half defence.
Red-hot Adelaide, also down an import with Jacob Wiley (heel) sidelined, made the Phoenix pay, hitting 8-of-11 three-pointers and 18-of-18 free throws in the first half.
Isaac Humphries (25 points) feasted inside without Williams to contend with, unsung Kyrin Galloway (23 points, 5-of-7 triples) had the game of his life and American Trey Kell (21 points) continued his purple patch.
Galloway, whose previous career-best was 16 points, kickstarted the rout, racking up 15 first-quarter points at 100 per cent, including two swished threes and two acrobatic tipjams as the Sixers repeatedly got downhill and did as they pleased.
SEM closed to 23-26 before Adelaide finished the quarter with another 8-0 burst, thanks to a Galloway layup and successive Cadee triples.
It got even uglier in the second period for the Phoenix, whose awful defence was now augmented by a sagging offence.
Only Abdel Nader (18 points) offered any resistance against the 36ers, whose pristine ball movement and incredible shooting left SEM shellshocked.
Galloway started the third stanza with his fourth trey, stretching the Sixers' huge cushion to 71-40 before the Phoenix belatedly showed some steel after half-time but left their run far too late.
"We didn't play defence, simply," Phoenix coach Mike Kelly said. "We didn't guard the three.
"We didn't guard the drive well. We lost by 25 ... 25 flattered us."
