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SOUTH EAST Melbourne's fullcourt pressure last night quickly brought rudderless Perth unstuck in their qualifying final, Nathan Sobey leading his team on to a best-of-three semi final showdown with his former NBL club Adelaide, while leaving the Wildcats awaiting the winner of tonight's Melbourne-Tasmania showdown.

Fiesty Phoenix opportunists Owen Foxwell and John Brown III ran riot with four steals apiece as Perth's clear lack of a designated point guard turned its scary initial 3-point barrage into a distant memory, South East 35-29 clear by the first break.

That lead progressively blew out to as many as 23 points as the Phoenix's fullcourt terrorism of Perth's blatant backcourt inadequacies so regularly exploited the visitors as to be embarrassing.

Sobey combined a game-high 24 points at 50 per cent with seven assists and Brown was into everything, as eight boards, five assists and four steals would imply.

The further this went, the worse it became for Perth. The Wildcats hit 5-of-6 threes in the early going but soon after needed the presence of veteran big-man Jesse Wagstaff to try ignite them as South East drained their confidence.

Despite initial foul woes, Foxwell's 18 points came off 62 per cent shooting, with 2-of-3 threes. 

Ian Clark was ultra-efficient with 16 points in 15 minutes, Sobey finished on a game-high 24 points at 50 per cent, with seven assists and Brown was everywhere, as his eight boards, five assists and four steals would attest.

Angus Glover, Wes Iwundu ... the pressure rarely relented, the Phoenix even able to thoroughly enjoy deep benchman Luke Rosendale's six points off a three-point play and a swished triple.

While SEM coach Josh King was able to turn his attention to the best-of-three semi final with the 36ers, counterpart John Rillie has only until Saturday to re-focus his team.

Jo Lual-Acuil was mostly ineffective and even though Kristian Doolittle led his team with 22 points, he also led it in turnovers with five.

Ben Henshall, Elijah Pepper and Dylan Windler mostly had little impact and when Cam Huefner is joint rebounding leader with six inside 10 minutes of court-time, you know there are some situations in need of fast resolution before facing the Melbourne-Tasmania winner at RAC Arena on KO Saturday. 

NBL PLAYOFFS 2026

Qualifying Final (3v4)

South East Melbourne Phoenix 111 (Sobey 24, Foxwell 18, Clark 16, Glover 12; Brown 8 rebs; Sobey 7 assts) d Perth Wildcats 94 (Doolittle 22, Wyndler 13, Lual-Acuil, Henshall, Duke 11; Huefner, Lual-Acuil, Doolittle 6 rebs; Wyndler 7 assts) at John Cain Arena. Crowd: 3,891 Phoenix progress to semi finals v Adelaide 36ers.

Elimination Final (5v6)

Melbourne United v Tasmania JackJumpers, John Cain Arena, tonight. Loser eliminated. Winner v Perth on Saturday at RAC Arena.