Dual-NBL champion Ebi Ere rates Adelaide 36ers team-mate Jerome Randle ‘the best in NBL’

EBI Ere has been a scoring machine, carving up the NBL and feeling invincible so when he describes teammate Jerome Randle as “unstoppable”, he speaks from knowledge.

21/11/2015 Action pics from NBL match between Adelaide 36ers and Illawarra Hawks at Adelaide Arena tonight pic Adelaide 36ersno9 Jerome Randle and Illawarra's noi 11 kevin Lisch ....Photo Dave Cronin

EBI Ere has been a scoring machine, carving up the NBL and feeling invincible so when he describes teammate Jerome Randle as “unstoppable”, he speaks from knowledge.

Ere in 2008 and playing for Brisbane Bullets under 36ers’ coach Joey Wright, led the NBL in scoring with 27.1 points per 48-minute game and now Randle is leading the league with 24.6 in a 40-minute game.

“Jerome is the best player in the league,” Ere said shortly after Adelaide beat then-league leader Melbourne 90-81 at Titanium Security Arena.

“Nobody can guard him.

“He’s unstoppable so we’ve always got that to our advantage.”

Ere won a championship with Wright and 36ers captain Adam Gibson at Brisbane and also under Brian Goorjian in Sydney.

While he initially struggled in Adelaide to recapture the form which made him one of the NBL’s greats, shedding some kilos and embracing his new role has him looking his former self.

That has played its own role in Adelaide’s current six-game winning streak which twice goes under the microscope this week against third-ranked Illawarra, away and at home.

Ere and Mitch Creek have been revelling off the bench, giving the 36ers huge energy and scoring boosts.

Daniel Johnson ran back into form with his second half heroics against United and Anthony Petrie has been a rock throughout.

Ebi Ere in action at Adelaide Arena. Photo: Stephen Laffer.

Now the big test awaits, against the multi-talented, super-scoring Hawks, Thursday night in Wollongong, then back here on Saturday.

While there remains a small question-mark over Illawarra’s leading scorer Kirk Penney (hamstring), he appears likely to play, rejoining the Hawks triple-threat alongside Kevin Lisch and centre AJ Ogilvy.

Lisch, fourth among league scorers behind Penney (third) and New Zealand’s Corey Webster, most likely will score the defensive assignment on league leader Randle.

Without Penney last round, the Hawks flew into Perth to again be brushed aside by the Wildcats, this time 95-72. They are 0-4 against Perth this season.

“The only time we were in that game was when it was zero-zero at the jumpball,” Lisch said.

Hawks coach Rob Beveridge, who sat his team through a gruelling video review of its 88-79 loss in Adelaide earlier in the season, was even more brutal during the Perth review.

“We were mentally soft,” he said of the Wildcat debacle.

After the loss to Adelaide, Illawarra won 10 games out of 12, its only losses in double overtime and by one point.

The pantsing by the Wildcats was quite the shock but emphasised the significance of Penney’s absence and how it hit his teammates.

“We definitely want to win the first one,” Lisch said of the upcoming double against the 36ers.

“These tests against good teams is great preparation (for the finals).”

Indeed. Except little can prepare you for Randle.

Originally published as Dual-NBL champion Ebi Ere rates Adelaide 36ers team-mate Jerome Randle ‘the best in NBL’