Red-hot South East Melbourne Phoenix have moved to third on the NBL ladder by thrashing the Adelaide 36ers 102-84 at John Cain Arena.
Mitch Creek (24 points) and Trey Kel (20) starred on Sunday for the title-contending Phoenix, whose third successive win lifted them ahead of Cairns.
Import Robert Franks (18 points) and unsung development wing Nick Marshall (15 points in 17 minutes) led the charge for the Sixers, who plummeted emphatically to their third consecutive defeat, with their season fast slipping away.
"We were pretty sharp without being great," Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell said.
"There's areas where we could have been better with our decision making but I'm not going to complain about (scoring) 102 points."
Adelaide opened proceedings with the first two triples while Antonius Cleveland threw down a huge windmill dunk midway through the first term.
But that quarter - and the rest of the match - was otherwise thoroughly dominated by Phoenix.
The combination of Kel and Alan Williams helped SEM ease ahead 27-18 at the first change, while Creek's 14-point second term stretched Phoenix's advantage to 13 at halftime.
Sunday Dech's fullcourt pass with 1.6 seconds remaining before halftime to Franks for a layup on the buzzer failed to give the visitors the momentum they needed in the third.
Adelaide continued to throw away turnovers in attack while finding themselves opened up defensively.
Touted as one of the competition's big improvers pre-season, the 36ers fell further and further behind as the second half wore on, worried by Zhou Qi's size in the paint and continually unable to find an answer for Creek.
"I thought in that first quarter, seeing them get 27 points, it's not the right tone that you're setting," Sixers coach CJ Bruton said.
"We gave them everything they wanted and they had their way with us at different times."
