Back to regular programming: Cotton wasn’t missing twice

After missing a chance to win it at the end of regulation, Bryce Cotton was never going to let a second opportunity slip.

The five-time MVP was left kicking himself after missing a tough, contested layup at the buzzer, with the Adelaide 36ers trying to avoid a third straight loss against the Breakers on Friday night at Spark Arena.

Overtime didn’t start smoothly for Adelaide, who spent much of the extra period playing catch-up. But Cotton had already made a promise to himself. If he got another chance to decide the game, he wouldn’t miss.

That moment arrived after the 36ers forced a crucial five-second violation, keeping the margin at one point with 9.7 seconds remaining. Matt Kenyon set a perfectly timed screen, taking Izaiah Brockington with him and creating the mismatch Cotton wanted.

Left isolated against New Zealand centre Sam Mennenga, Cotton rose for a three-pointer that never looked like missing. The shot dropped with one second left on the clock, sealing yet another game-winner in his 283-game career.

“It’s the moments that you kinda live for when obviously both teams are going back and forth, but I was pretty upset with myself not making that layup in regulation,” Cotton said.

“So I just silently thought to myself, especially once we got the five-second violation, if I have two chances to win the game one of them’s got to go in, because that’s the standard that I hold myself to.”

The Adelaide 36ers came into the matchup against the New Zealand Breakers looking to respond after losing consecutive games for the first time in NBL26, falling at home to the Tasmania JackJumpers before being beaten by the South East Melbourne Phoenix at HoopsFest in Perth on Sunday.

Newly signed import John Jenkins made his debut in Perth and was then elevated into the starting five on Friday night, despite still battling jetlagged after travelling from Romania to Perth, then Adelaide, and now Auckland in a little over a week.

Jenkins delivered immediately, finishing with 24 points on 6-of-11 shooting from three-point range in 33 minutes.

With the 36ers’ new piece already making an impact, Cotton is excited about how much more the team can unlock as the season builds.

"He's (Jenkins) a true pro, he knows how to play the game and his movement with and without the ball is amazing, and we all kinda fed off of that," Cotton said.

"But it was just a great team win and John carried us a big part of that first half and then even down the stretch he hit some big shots for us, Flynn hit some big shots and DJ (Vasiljevic) hit a couple of threes, and that's what it's about finding those sweet spots where we have so many weapons, and being able to utilise that.

"For John to have a game like this in just his second game with us, it's very impressive, but it's not surprising."