Basketball On The Internet.

ANGUS Glover made his intentions clear early. Back from an untimely injury that hit while he was hitting, his return for South East Melbourne last night against Cairns saw him wrack up a game-high 24 points with six 3-pointers, two of them in the first period when he had eight points and an assist.

He had nine points in the second quarter off three 3-pointers as the Phoenix seized control of the contest, Daniel Foster throwing down dunks, Owen Foxwell and Nathan Sobey thriving in a 36-15 avalanche that saw the Taipans trailing 39-64 at halftime.

Sobey's threeball ahead of the interval buzzer was a further dagger to the Taipans' hearts.

Effectively, this was over but to its credit, Cairns gave its resilient and robust Orange Army fanbase cause for hope with a 51-37 second half fightback that led to a respectable 90-101 final scoreline.

Jack McVeigh was finally given sufficient touches to score 22 at 50 per cent as import and makeshift playmaker Andrew Andrews collated 10 assists. Unfortunately, he also compiled seven turnovers.

Meanwhile, former 36ers import Montrezl Harrell is making noise on social media inferring he is keen to return to the NBL.

Round 9

New Zealand Breakers 113 (Mennenga 25, Brockington 19, Jackson-Cartwright 15, Lopez 13, Baker 12; Baker 11 rebs; Jackson-Cartwright 7 assts) d Brisbane Bullets 84 (Prather 26, Mathias 12, Harrison, Ducas 11; Harrison, Prather 8 rebs; Ducas 5 assts) at The Rifle Range, Gold Coast Sport and Leisure Centre. Crowd: 2,275 Q-Q: 27-18, 41-18, 24-21, 21-27. Ignite Cup Pts: New Zealand 6, Brisbane 1

Adelaide 36ers 97 (Cheatham 27, Vasiljevic 14, Cotton 12, Rakocevic, Cameron 11, Humphries 10; Cheatham 14 rebs; Cheatham, Cotton 4 assts) d Tasmania JackJumpers 86 (Campbell 20, Deng 17, Bannan 16, Marshall, Hamilton 12; Bannan 14 rebs; Ayre, Marshall 4 assts) at The Anthill, MyState Bank Arena. Crowd: 4,340

South East Melbourne Phoenix 101 (Glover 24, Sobey 17, Brown 13, Iwundu 12, Hunter 11, Foxwell 10; Brown 6 rebs; Foxwell 7 assts) d Cairns Taipans 90 (McVeigh 22, King 16, Schofield 14, Galloway 13, Andrews 11; Schofield 8 rebs; Andrews 10 assts) at the Taipanadrome, Cairns Convention Centre. Crowd: 3,567