Melbourne United have taken out the 2017/18 NBL championship with a 100-82 victory over the Adelaide 36ers.
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In front of a packed house at Melbourne's Hisense Arena, the home side produced a stunning 16-2 final-quarter run to close out the best-of-five grand final series 3-2 on Saturday night and claim their first title since adopting the Melbourne United name.
Casper Ware and Chris Goulding each scored 23 points with Casey Prather finishing with 18 points, 11 rebounds and five steals.
Shannon Shorter led the way for Adelaide with 20 points with support from Daniel Johnson (17 points, eight rebounds) and Mitch Creek (15 points, 10 rebounds).
United broke away in the opening quarter with 12 unanswered points to give the home side a 34-22 edge at the first break.
Goulding finished the quarter with 13 points as he made 5-of-7 shots, including 3-of-3 from long range.
Adelaide worked their way back into the contest in the second term with reserve guard Anthony Drmic providing valuable offence but Ware closed the half with 10 straight points for United to lead 57-44 at halftime.
The visitors bounced back after the main break to cut the margin to six points midway through the third quarter but United steadied to lead 78-69 with 10 minutes to play.
Melbourne ended Adelaide's resistance with the first 14 points of the final term to spark wild celebrations in front of their home fans.
Australian Associated Press
