Is Clark’s spark the key to a Phoenix title run?

Ian Clark’s moment arrived when South East Melbourne needed it most. Thrust into a bigger role with Nathan Sobey sidelined, the veteran guard delivered at HoopsFest, with strong support from Owen Foxwell, Jordan Hunter and John Brown III.

After averaging just 6.4 points and shooting 2-of-21 from three across his first six games, Clark produced a breakout performance. He finished with 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting, drilling 6-of-9 from deep.

The 108–89 Sunday win kept the battle for top spot alive, lifting the Phoenix to 17–8 and closing ground on the league-leading Adelaide 36ers, now 19–6.

Clark never doubted the shot would fall. The belief shown by his new teammates only reinforced that confidence, even with Sobey absent.

"All week and since I've been here, coaches and teammates have been giving me confidence and telling me to be myself and keep shooting the ball, obviously knowing I'm coming in mid-season and trying to get my legs under me," Clark said.

"And trying to understand what we do here in Phoenix and it's been a process, and it's about falling in love with that and I get my work in every day, but the biggest thing is these guys in the locker room, man."

The collective nature of South East Melbourne’s performance was impossible to miss. With Sobey unavailable, the responsibility was shared, and the Phoenix embraced it.

"We pull for each other and nobody cares who gets the credit, but it's a collective unit and we had plenty of guys step up today to play really well," Clark said.

"We're also a deep team, so we have a lot of guys that buy in and who know how to play on the defensive end, and then on the offensive end we run and gun, have a lot of shooters who want to get up shots and having fun is what we're doing."

While Clark was able to slide into Sobey’s role, coach Josh King knew it would take far more than a one-man solution to get past Adelaide. That belief was quickly validated.

Brown III and Hunter set the tone inside, combining for as many offensive rebounds as the 36ers managed as a team. Wes Iwundu added his own spark, knocking down 3-of-6 from deep for 13 points, while also dishing out four assists. Foxwell continued his rise, finishing with 15 points and a career-best 12 assists.

"We need everybody to step up and Wes (Iwundu) did a good job and it was good to see IC get going today for sure," King said.

"But having Sobey out, we needed several guys to step up and if you look at this sheet here, several guys did so it was good to see people step up in his absence."

Clark has long shown he can thrive alongside elite scorers. That was evident during his previous NBL stints, including the past two seasons next to Chris Goulding at Melbourne United. It is why the chance to play alongside Sobey was a major draw when he joined the Phoenix.

Now that he's found his rhythm, the excitement is only growing. Clark is eager to see what the duo can produce together once they are both firing.

Sobey is enjoying the best form of his 319-game NBL career, averaging 22.7 points, 4.7 assists and 3.7 rebounds this season.

"He's been playing at an MVP type level all year and just being able to come in and do my part as much as I can, I'm excited to be on the floor with him," Clark said.

"Obviously we wanted to have him for this game, but hopefully looking forward however coach uses us, we'll be ready."