Kings blow out 'Cats to go back top

The Sydney Kings made it 10 straight wins with seven triple-figure performances in-a-row to sit on top of the NBL with one game to go after taking care of the shorthanded Perth Wildcats 102-84 on Sunday.

The Wildcats were looking to take the challenge up to the on-fire Kings at Qudos Bank Arena, but coming off playing at home in Perth on Friday night and then being without Ben Henshall (ankle) and Dylan Windler (heel), they couldn’t go with the league's hottest team.

After a tight and high-scoring first quarter with Perth leading 29-28 by quarter-time, Sydney dominated the rest of the way to win by 18 to improve to a 23-9 record and to be back in top spot percentage ahead of the Adelaide 36ers.

A win against the last placed Brisbane Bullets on Friday and they will be secure as regular season champions while the 'Cats are only just clinging to fourth place.

Perth are 20-12 ahead of the 19-13 Melbourne United, but with both teams having one game to play, only 12 points separates them with United having a Throwdown on Thursday before the Wildcats host the 36ers on Friday.

After giving up 29 points to the Wildcats in the first quarter, the defence of the Kings locked in to hold their opponents to 16 points in the second quarter, 19 in the third and 20 in the fourth.

The Kings had no trouble scoring themselves once more to get to triple-figures for the seventh straight time on the back of shooting 51 per cent from the field, making 14/29 from deep and having 24 assists to just 13 turnovers.

Only going 10/18 at the foul line was a blip for the Kings including Kendric Davis surprisingly going 2/5, but he was outstanding aside from that with 30 points, 10 assists and five rebounds with 6/9 three-point shooting.

He had plenty of help too including Makuach Maluach delivering 18 points and four rebounds with 3/4 from downtown while Tim Soares had 14 points, four boards and two blocks, and Xavier Cooks 14 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

It was a disappointing result, and performance, from the Wildcats who had arrived in Sydney winning nine of their last 10 with the one loss in that being at the death to Melbourne.

Kristian Doolittle had another strong performance for the 'Cats with 19 points, nine rebounds and two assists while Elijah Pepper finished with another 14 points and 10 boards.

Dontae Russo-Nance had a late scare with a lower leg injury, but coach John Rillie did say he expected him to be fine post-match after he stepped up in the absence of Henshall for 12 points with 5/6 field goal shooting.

Jo Lual-Acuil Jr also had 12 points, three rebounds, two assists and two blocks with Sunday Dech and David Duke Jr contributing nine points apiece.

Both teams now have one game to go in the regular season on Friday with the Kings first up in Brisbane against the wooden spoon bound Bullets before the Wildcats host Bryce Cotton and the Adelaide 36ers.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26 – ROUND 21

SYDNEY KINGS 102 (Davis 30, Maluach 18, Cooks 14, Soares 14)

PERTH WILDCATS 84 (Doolittle 19, Pepper 14, Russo-Nance 12, Lual-Acuil 12))

BOX SCORE