The Adelaide 36ers have placed South East Melbourne's NBL finals hopes in jeopardy with a 100-92 victory over the Phoenix at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
The Sixers' searing 21-5 start and ferocious 18-4 fourth-quarter surge proved decisive on Sunday as the Phoenix misfired badly from the perimeter and failed the endeavour test, according to coach Simon Mitchell.
"We got outmanned," he said.
"We had everything to play for and physically we didn't get the job done.
"It's endeavour, fighting for position on the floor, fighting for every square inch, fighting to box out and giving up your body, flesh and bone on every possession.
"I thought we failed that test and that's tremendously disappointing.
"With the gravity of our situation and the importance of needing a win, it looked like it affected some of our players."
Adelaide veteran Daniel Johnson (22 points, 10 rebounds) waged another engrossing head-to-head duel with former teammate Mitch Creek (27 points, 11 boards), as did 36ers stopper Sunday Dech (21 points) and Phoenix import playmaker Xavier Munford (24).
Fifth-place Phoenix's fifth defeat from their past six starts saw them lose ground in their bid to overtake fourth-ranked Illawarra on the ladder.
The visitors looked completely disjointed in their half-court sets early as the switched-on Sixers rode their fast start to a 25-18 quarter-time buffer.
Adelaide rebounded powerfully but became careless with their ball use in the second term, allowing the Phoenix to regroup and steal a 45-44 halftime lead on Creek's buzzer-beating basket.
Cameos from Hyrum Harris - who was fearless in his first start of the season - developing forward Nick Marshall and embattled imports Todd Withers and Dusty Hannahs helped the 36ers seize the upper hand in the third stanza.
Phoenix captain Kyle Adnam outscored Adelaide 9-4 either side of three-quarter time and SEM's deficit was down to three points early in the fourth.
It was as close as they got.
Dech and Hannahs kept the scoreboard ticking over, Johnson drilled a trey before spinning past Creek and scoring and Adelaide's lead blew out to 19.
The Phoenix saved some face with a flurry of late buckets to ensure a more flattering scoreline than they truly deserved.
"The starting group definitely delivered and everyone contributed," 36ers coach CJ Bruton said.
"We took the air out of them early and kept some of their high performers lower."
