Bullets Ignite for big win in Perth

Casey Prather and Tyrell Harrison combined for 61 points and 25 rebounds as the Brisbane Bullets silenced their critics with a brilliant performance on the road to beat the Perth Wildcats 110-93.

The Bullets arrived at RAC Arena still missing key pair Sam McDaniel and Mitch Norton while having already parted ways with import Javon Freeman-Liberty, and had lost four straight including a last up 27-point loss to the Illawarra Hawks.

In contrast, the Wildcats were back on their home floor having won three straight and with their defence holding them in good stead, but the Bullets came out to exploit that from the outset.

Brisbane found themselves down 20 early on Saturday against Illawarra, but turned things around on Wednesday night as part of the Ignite Cup match up racing to the 11-2 lead.

The Bullets turned that into a 56-48 half-time lead where Prather and Harrison combined for 27 points and 10 rebounds between them. As a team, Brisbane shot 7/13 from downtown to the 4/16 from Perth in the opening half.

Brisbane stayed in control too with Harrison scoring another seven third quarter points for them to be leading by nine at three quarter-time, and converting that to the 17-point win to improve to 2-4.

The Bullets ended up shooting 54 per cent from the field with 46 from deep opposed to the 46 and 29 from the Wildcats while winning the rebound count by 13 with 15 offensive boards to nine.

Former MVP Jaylen Adams also didn’t start for Brisbane and didn’t attempt a shot in his 17 minutes despite having six assists with Harrison (27 points, 15 rebounds, four assists) and Prather (34 points, 10 boards, three assists) dominant.

Young trio Tristan Devers (15 points, three rebounds, three assists), Alex Ducas (14 points, four steals) and Taine Murray (12 points) all played crucial roles in the win.

The Wildcats are now 3-2 with the positive being the form of import guard Mason Jones. He had his best game of the season with 19 points before fouling out with five minutes to play.

Jo Lual-Acuil Jr also had 18 points for Perth to go with three rebounds, three blocks, three steals and two assists.

The Bullets had a horror start back on Saturday against the Illawarra Hawks but came out motivated to turn that around and they raced out to an 11-2 lead in the opening three minutes when Alex Ducas knocked down a triple in his home state.

Ducas knocked down another three in the first term and Taine Murray hit another for the visitors, and Lamar Patterson completed a three-point play which saw the Bullets on top 26-21 after one despite a couple of three balls to Perth from Lat Mayen and Ben Henshall.

The Wildcats started the second period well with a 10-2 run to grab the lead but Brisbane steadied with a couple of strong makes to Tyrell Harrison.

Tristan Devers then made a couple of three balls, and Casey Prather and Murray landed another each before half-time with Brisbane heading into the main break on top 56-48 with 63 per cent shooting as a team to just the 45 from the Wildcats.

Under-pressure import Mason Jones was trying to will Perth back into the game in the third quarter with 10 points and a couple of three-pointers, but Brisbane continued to have the answers to be up nine still by three quarter-time.

Brisbane opened up the fourth quarter with an 15-4 run too to push aside any Wildcats thoughts of a fightback as they cruised to the morale boosting 17-point win on the road.

Both teams play again this round with the Bullets returning home to host the undefeated Melbourne United on Friday night. The Wildcats are on the road to the Sydney Kings on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26 – IGNITE CUP BY DISNEY+

PERTH WILDCATS 93 (Jones 19, Lual-Acuil Jr 18, Windler 12)

BRISBANE BULLETS 110 (Prather 34, Harrison 27, Devers 15)

BOX SCORE