Bryce-less Wildcats too much at home for Kings

The Perth Wildcats showed they can still be a force to be reckoned with even without superstar Bryce Cotton with a strong performance to beat the Sydney Kings 81-67 at RAC Arena on Thursday night.

The Wildcats were reeling from the news that their two-time MVP and triple championship winner Cotton might not return at all again this season after surgery on a haematoma on his left quadricep. 

But they didn’t let it affect their performance in front of another massive 10,650 crowd at RAC Arena as they virtually led from go to woe to beat the finals contending Kings by 14 points.

The 'Cats broke the game wide open just before half-time 14-0 run to end up making it a five-game sweep of the Kings this season.

What it means for the Wildcats is that they keep in touch with top spot still within a game of Melbourne United and with a superior percentage with top two already well and truly secured.

It was a tough loss to take for the Kings who would have come to Perth hoping to take full advantage of the Cotton-less Wildcats and also closing back in a top four position themselves.

Instead, the job for the Kings is now decidedly more challenging as they slip to 16-17 and fall further behind the 17-15 Hawks with three tough matches to finish off with against Melbourne, Illawarra and Brisbane.

Todd Blanchfield and John Mooney have been strong support acts for Cotton so far this season, but they both ensured there was no drop off on Thursday. Blanchfield put up 23 points for the night to lead the Wildcats while Mooney racked up a 22nd double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Development player Luke Travers was back to start and made the most of it setting a new career-high and he was the player kept the 'Cats on top during the third quarter finishing with 16 points and eight rebounds on 7/10 shooting.

Mitch Norton had 11 points, six assists and three steals but it was his defence on Casper Ware that was the biggest factor in the game. With support from Kevin White, the Wildcats held Ware to one point, three rebounds and two steals on 0/11 shooting from the floor.

Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson was delighted with how his team stepped up in the absence of their superstar.

"It was a really good game for us, a good statement game that the guys rocked onto their role," Gleeson said. 

"We don’t need someone to jump out of their skin and drop 40, but we need the guys to play the right way and I thought that was Wildcats basketball. 

"Especially when we got our tails up in the second quarter, we were playing hard, we were making the extra pass and we had each other's back. We often talk about it and it was great to put it on the court."

Jarell Martin top-scored for Sydney with 20 points and six rebounds with Jordan Hunter adding 14 points and 10 boards, Xavier Cooks 10 points and seven rebounds, Shaun Bruce eight points and three assists, and Craig Moller eight points and rebounds.

Sydney coach Adam Forde lamented that 14-0 run Perth went on in the second quarter which ultimately was the difference in the game.

"They just got on this run and we couldn’t sustain the bleeding, and we made a couple of rotations to try and find something different but that was pretty much the ball game that run," Forde said.

"We did a great job defensively in the second half to try and work our way back but Perth also did a great job in the second half defensively and gave us the same inflictions. 

"There were no assists in the last quarter and a couple of turnovers by each team, and that was pretty much it. Credit to Perth because they did a great job."

Perth opened up the game with baskets from Todd Blanchfield and John Mooney. That set the tone with Mooney going on to hit eight points in the opening term. Jesse Wagstaff came on to hit a pair of threes too, but the Kings had come to play and managed to lead 22-21 after one.

The Kings still managed to lead early in the second term when Shaun Bruce drained a three, but the Wildcats were about to make their game-defining move. 

Mooney knocked down a corner three and then when up 35-33, the home team went on a stunning 14-0 heading towards half-time including eight consecutive points from Blanchfield as they ended up turning into the major break leading 53-38.

It was then the turn of Luke Travers to close the door shut on the Kings with the Wildcats development player getting aggressive offensively, attacking the basket and finishing play after play. He end up going on his own scoring run of eight straight points to close the third term and keep Perth up 72-58.

The fourth quarter was nothing to write home about with Perth not hitting a field goal after Blanchfield scored to open the term. Sydney hit the next seven points but that was over a seven-minute period so they couldn’t capitalise with the 'Cats cruising to the 14-point win.

It doesn’t get any easier now for the Kings who head home to host the league-leading Melbourne United on Saturday while the Wildcats head to Wollongong to play a desperate Illawarra Hawks on Tuesday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 20

PERTH WILDCATS 81 (Blanchfield 23, Mooney 19, Travers 16)

SYDNEY KINGS 67 (Martin 20, Hunter 14, Cooks 10) 

BOX SCORE