Mother knows best: The message that sparked winning move

Josh King credits a message from his mother for inspiring Malique Lewis to fill Angus Glover’s shooting shoes. But on a night when points were flowing, it was John Brown III who proved the difference for the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

The Phoenix notched their fifth straight win, edging out the Tasmania JackJumpers 103-102 on Thursday, ahead of a mouth-watering Throwdown with Melbourne United on Saturday night.

South East Melbourne was missing sharpshooting dual championship winner Glover, who sat out with an ankle injury. But before the game, coach King received a message from his mother back in the United States urging someone to step up.

"I think I know what it was, and if I'm lying, I'm dying, but I got a text message from my mother back in the States like I do before every game, and she asked me, 'Is Glover playing?'" King said.

"I said 'No, he's going to be out for a couple of weeks' and she wrote me back saying 'Hmm, we need Lewis to hit some threes tonight'."

"I swear to you, I'll show it to you (speaking to Lewis) and maybe that's what it was, so shout out to my mum."

Step up is exactly what the second-year Next Star did. By half-time, he already had 18 points with four triples, finishing with 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting overall and 5-of-7 from behind the arc.

"He (Lewis) was huge for us and we have one of our better shooters out, and needed a guy step up and he's been doing a lot of really good things," King said.

"Last week something came out where he was leading the league in plus/minus and he's not so much focused on shots, but tonight that was a huge boost for us when we needed somebody to step up offensively. Malique did that and it was really nice to see him shoot the ball really well tonight."

With Jordan Hunter again limited to just 11 minutes, Brown III spent much of the game at centre. With him on the floor, South East Melbourne was +16, as he contributed 10 points, 14 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists.

Eight of those rebounds came on the offensive end, and King continues to marvel at Brown’s relentless effort.

"He's a beast, that's the best way I can put it," King said. "He's a gamer, he's a baller and he's ready to go. We're lucky to have him, and the league is actually lucky to have him - they just don't know that."

"They are lucky to have a guy like John Brown in the league, a guy who's got the credentials that he does. He's a nightmare for the opposition for sure, but we also can't just rely on him and his energy. We need other guys to step up and bring that type of energy. It can't be that we lean on him to get us out of a hole all the time."