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MELBOURNE, with import centre Jesse Edwards dominant, savaged a rudderless New Zealand today before Sydney blew several wide-open chances to send its match with Partizan into overtime while in Singapore, NBL champion Illawarra crushed Japan's B-League champion Utsunomiya Brex at FIBA's Intercontinental Cup.

Resting several of their key players, the Hawks finished on a high after playing their three-game series without lead playmaker William "Davo" Hickey (eye) but still unlucky to lose by two to Brazil's Flamengo and by six to the NBA G-League United outfit.

Illawarra blew Utsunomiya Brex out of the water 93-69, despite not suiting Tyler Harvey who had earlier 24 and 32 point returns, and Javale McGee, who averaged a double-double in points and boards.

In Melbourne, New Zealand rolled in with star centre Sam Mennenga sidelined due to concussion protocols and with exciting playmaker Parker Jackson-Cartwright hobbled by a persistent rib injury.

Added to that was a coaching performance by Peteri Koponen which looked as if he was needing to catch a plane and that was all United needed to unleash the full fury and ferocity of their skill, talent, gameplan and depth in an overwhelming display from start to finish.

Milton Doyle started where he finished against Tasmania and Edwards (22 points at 90 per cent, six rebounds and two blocks in 21 minutes) thrived in the paint.

Finn Delany also opened strongly as Melbourne punched out a match-winning 34-15 first quarter in which its defence and ball movement were exemplary.

Dash Daniels' 14 points came at 60 per cent and Fabijan Krslovic's eight rebounds in 18 minutes as United coach Dean Vickerman had the luxury of playing 13 members of his roster, with 12 on the scoresheet.

Imports Izaiah Brockington (21 points at 53 per cent. six rebounds, two assists) and Rob Baker (17 points, including four threes) worked hard to overcome the overwhelming Melbourne defence and their own coach's erratic substitution pattern and rotations.

Given some time, Karim Lopez scored all of his 14 points in the second half, but Rob Loe (1-of-7) again struggled. Izayah Le'Afa (2-of-8) scored his points late in garbage time, though it could safely and successfully be argued New Zealand produced 40 minutes of garbage time.

Not so in Sydney where the Kings took Partizan down to the wire but blew three open 3-point looks to tie the game when down 90-93 in the final 18 seconds.

Xavier Cooks worked hard to secure three offensive rebounds on consecutive Kouat Noi 3-point misses, his own missed putback attempt and could only watch as Kendric Davis' triple for overtime also missed to close the contest.

Why Jaylin Galloway, who led Sydney with 20 points and stroked 6-of-10 threes in the contest passed up an open three in that hectic final sequence must remain a mystery.

Another mystery was why Adelaide chose to suit dumped South East Melbourne import Vrenz Bleijenberg against Panathinaikos when the absence of Montrezl Harrell surely meant greater opportunity for someone on the actual roster!

Bleijenberg contributed precious little as first Dejan Vasiljevic (4-of-5 threes in the first half, 6-of-9 for the game) and then Bryce Cotton (19 of his 24 points in the first half, plus nine assists) shot the 36ers off to a super start.

Ahead 47-39 at the main break, Adelaide led by as many as 11 before Euroleague MVP Kendrick Nunn brought the visitors soaring back in the third period.

The 36ers still were in touch 68-70 late in the third on a Zylan Cheatham alley-oop but from there, Panathinaikos simply flexed its muscles.

Its 11-0 run broke the match open and not even Isaac Humphries' best efforts could make a difference as Panathinaikos nailed 15-of-29 threes, Nikos Rogkavopoulos with 4-of-6 from range.

Flynn Cameron, hampered by early fouls, was unable to find his rhythm, although his trick shot in the final quarter was worth the wait.

Round 1

Melbourne United 88 (Doyle 22, Walker 14, Ili, Delany 12, Edwards 10; Krslovic 12 rebs; Edwards, Ili, Doyle 3 assts) d Tasmania JackJumpers 84 (Hamilton 24, Johnson 22, Bannan 9; Johnson 10 rebs; Ayre, Campbell 4 assts) on the Anthill, MyState Bank Arena. Crowd: 4,340

Brisbane Bullets 104 (Prather 27, Harrison 24, Freeman-Liberty 17, Adams 14, Ducas, McDaniel 10; Harrison 15 rebs; Adams 7 assts) d New Zealand Breakers 95 (Brockington, Jackson-Cartwright 16, Menenga 14, Davison, Baker, Te Rangi 12; Mennenga 8 rebs; Jackson-Cartwright 12 assts) at Spark Arena, Auckland. Crowd: N/A

South East Melbourne Phoenix 114 (Glover 18, Maldonado 16, Brown 14, Sobey 13, Foxwell 12, Gak 11, Hunter 10; Hunter, Lewis 8 rebs; Sobey 8 assts) d Cairns Taipans 77 (Smith 19, McVeigh 18, Schofield 12, Lee 10; Lee 12 rebs; Stattmann 5 assts) at John Cain Arena. Crowd: 5,371

Tasmania JackJumpers 75 (Hamilton 26, Johnson 12, Magnay 10; Bannan 10 rebs; Hamilton 5 assts) d Perth Wildcats 72 (Jones 16, Lual-Acuil 15, Doolittle 12; Lual-Acuil 14 rebs; Jones, Windler 3 assts) at The Jungle, RAC Arena. Crowd: 11,701

Melbourne United 114 (Edwards 22, Krebs 16, Doyle 15, Daniels 14, Wilson 12; Krslovic 8 rebs; Ili 8 assts) d New Zealand Breakers 82 (Brockington 21, Baker 17, Lopez 14; Lopez, Brockington 6 rebs;  Jackson-Cartwright, Davison 4 assts) at the UN, John Cain Arena. Crowd: 9,101

Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament

Panathinaikos 91 (Nunn 21, Yurtseven 20, Rogkavopoulos 10; Yurtseven 13 rebs; Nunn 8 assts) d Partizan 82 (Washington 19, Parker 18, Osetkowski 16, Brown 13; Parker 8 rebs; Brown 5 assts) at John Cain Arena. Crowd: 10,500

Partizan 93 (Parker 24, Milton 21, Jones 18, Brown 17; Brown 12 rebs; Jones 5 assts) d Sydney Kings 90 (Galloway 20, Davis 19, Noi 15, Cooks 14, Soares 11; Cooks 13 rebs; Dellavedova 10 assts) at Qudos Bank Arena. Crowd: N/A 

Panathinaikos 106 (Nunn 26, Rogkavopoulos, Holmes 14, Mitoglou 12, Grant 11, Hernangomez 10; Holmes 9 rebs; Grant 10 assts ) d Adelaide 36ers 89 (Cotton 24, Vasiljevic 22, Humphries 12, Cheatham 11; Cheatham 9 rebs; Cotton 9 assts) at Qudos Bank Arena. Crowd: N/A

FIBA Intercontiental Cup

Illawarra Hawks 93 (McLaughlin 15, H.Froling 14, Yates 13, McDowell-White 12; Yates 9 rebs; McDowell-White, H.Froling 4 assts) d Utsunomiya Brex 69 (Ishikawa 15, Endso 9, Heijima 8; Takeuchi, Aoki 6 rebs; 5 with 2 assts) in Singapore. Crowd: 2,147

NBA G-League United 100 (Shackleford 26, Randle 23, Hunt 21; Williams 9 rebs; Randle 4 assts) d Illawarra Hawks 94 (Harvey 32, Blanchfield 16, McGee 13, McLaughlin 12; McGee 10 rebs; McLaughlin 5 assts) in Singapore. Crowd: 2,285

Flamengo 84 (Borges 22, Johnson 14, Manflo 12, Bost 10; Cummings 9 rebs; Borges 8 assts) d Illawarra Hawks 82 (Harvey 24, Bolden 12, McGee, Blanchfield 10; Bolden 11 rebs; Bolden, McLaughlin 2 assts) in Singapore. Crowd: 2,285

TOMORROW: What We Learnt 1