Phoenix down Illawarra in NBL nail-biter

Xavier Munford's composure from the foul line at the death has steered South East Melbourne Phoenix to a pulsating 88-87 win over the Illawarra Hawks and to second position on the NBL ladder.

With his side trailing 87-86, Munford, who returned a game-high 24 points, was fouled by Hawks sixth-man Xavier Rathan-Mayes while launching a three-point prayer with 1.3 seconds remaining in Wollongong on Monday night.

Munford, an 84.6 per cent free-throw shooter, coolly slotted the first two to put Phoenix in front.

But he deliberately missed the third on the quick-thinking advice of Mitch Creek, aware Illawarra's unsuccessful challenge of the foul left them out of time-outs and therefore unable to advance the ball should they retrieve possession.

"I looked at the clock and I had to make a play," Munford said.

"It just so happened that he (Rathan-Mayes) over-jumped and there was a foul.

"I was planning on making (the third shot) but Creeky came up to me and said 'just miss it'."

Creek (20 points) and Ryan Broekhoff (11 points, 16 rebounds) set the early tone for the undermanned Phoenix, still without coach Simon Mitchell, captain Kyle Adnam, Cam Gliddon, Reuben Te Rangi and Dane Pineau due to COVID-19 protocols.

They went into the game after a big loss to Perth on Saturday.

"I was proud of the guys and the response we had," stand-in coach Judd Flavell said.

"We tidied up a few things that we wanted to address from the last game."

Aided by some poor rebounding and defending from the Hawks, the visitors hit their first 10 shots and marched to a blistering 26-12 start en route to a 28-18 quarter-time lead.

Illawarra import Tyler Harvey (20 points) shook off a scoreless opening term to help the home team close to 47-38 at half-time