JLA sends message in first 'Cats appearance

Jo Lual-Acuil Jr put on a clinic in his first appearance for Perth Wildcats leading them to 86-66 win against Japan's Sunrockers Shibuya to close the opening night at the International Series at Perth High Performance Centre.

The Wildcats are playing host to the South East Melbourne Phoenix, Ryukyu Golden Kings and their Friday night opponents, Sunrockers, this weekend for the International Series at the former Challenge Stadium where they made a one off return to in last season's NBL finals series against the Phoenix.

The 'Cats were without new import guard Mason Jones along with Sunday Dech and games record holding captain Jesse Wagstaff, but they still put on a show against Shibuya.

While there's still Jones to come in as the Bryce Cotton replacement and Kristian Doolittle largely took a backseat, Lual-Acuil Jr and Dylan Windler stole the show.

Perth were only leading 21-19 after one but then produced 28 points to 10 in the second term to be on top 49-29 by half-time with Lual-Acuil Jr and Windler combining for 29 points with the former shooting 7/8 from the field and the latter hitting 4/5 from downtown.

The 'Cats were shooting 50 per cent from the field to 35 from the Sunrockers before Shibuya were able to close that deficit to 16 by three quarter-time, and got it back to 13 early in the fourth when Josh Hawkinson continued his impressive showing.

Windler immediately replied with a triple to steady things for the Wildcats and from there the home team cruised to the 20-point win even without Jones, Dech and Wagstaff, and with Doolittle having just five points to go with nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.

It was a first appearance this pre-season for Lual-Acuil Jr and he starred both down in the block and even putting on some impressive handling skills from the perimeter to get inside.

He finished with 22 points, three rebounds, two assists and two blocks on 10/11 field goal shooting in just 23:38 of court time.

Windler didn’t need to do too much in the second half but ended up with 17 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals with 5/9 three-point shooting while Elijah Pepper had 14 points on the back of his standout NBL1 West season at the Warwick Senators.

David Okwera is another 'Cats player looking to take a leap in NBL26 and he had 11 points in 15 minutes with Lat Mayen contributing seven points, and Dontae Russo-Nance seven points, four assists and three rebounds.

Josh Hawkinson was mighty impressive all night for the Sunrockers with 28 points, seven rebounds and two assists on 10/14 shooting from the field, 3/4 from downtown and 4/4 at the foul line.

Former Sydney Kings Next Star Didi Louzada also had 12 points and four rebounds with Tom Welsh adding eight points, 10 boards, four assists and two blocked shots.

The Wildcats will be back in action as part of the International Series on Sunday against the Ryukyu Golden Kings before their NBL26 gets underway next Saturday night when they play host to the Tasmania JackJumpers at RAC Arena.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL PRE-SEASON 2025/26

PERTH WILDCATS 86 (Lual-Acuil Jr 22, Windler 17, Pepper 14)

SUNROCKERS SHIBUYA 66 (Hawkinson 28, Louzada 12, Welsh 8)

BOX SCORE