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South East Melbourne Phoenix have marked key signing Ryan Broekhoff's debut with a tight 85-81 win over Cairns Taipans in the NBL Cup. The Boomers star with NBA experience from stints in Dallas and Philadelphia scored seven points in 14 minutes during Friday's clash at John Cain Arena as the Phoenix won consecutive games for just the second time this season. The Phoenix built a 15-point advantage in the first half then withstood a spirited challenge as Scott Machado (24 points) and Cam Oliver (22) tried everything in their power to secure a Cairns victory in their final NBL Cup match. Playing his first competitive game in over a year, sharpshooter Broekhoff marked his maiden NBL appearance with a three-pointer on his opening shot attempt to help settle early nerves. "I had a lot of nervous energy heading into the game, some anxiety and feeling some pressure just coming in and being ready to go in such a short amount of time," Broekhoff said. "I won't lie - the first three when it went in, it was a bit of relief and ok, let's settle in and get playing." Coach Simon Mitchell was pleased with the way his squad backed up from Wednesday's overtime victory over Melbourne United to record their eighth victory of the season.  "It wasn't one of our greatest performances by any stretch of the imagination but it was a different kind of toughness we had to show tonight," Mitchell said after Mitch Creek scored 21 points and Cam Gliddon added 14 in the win. "We had some pretty sore bodies after that extra period against Melbourne and with the short turnaround, we really had to dig in." South East Melbourne led 20-14 after one quarter and Creek capped a 16-point half with a late triple to hand the Phoenix a 47-36 edge at the main break. Machado tried to lift his side in the third quarter but eight turnovers for the term proved costly as the Phoenix went back ahead 65-55. The Taipans made one final charge late in the game, Oliver sinking a pair of free-throws to pull within two points in the final minutes but Gliddon's floating jump shot gave his side enough breathing space to close out the result. Coach Mike Kelly remains confident that the Taipans can bounce back to form following their sixth defeat in seven games. "I think we can win our next game, I thought coming in that we had a good shot of winning this game," Kelly said. "Right now that's got to be the focus - us playing with that great energy but executing and playing good basketball as a group."
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