Knight the Wildcats hero against United

Brandon Knight took a huge charge on Cole Anthony and then hit the game-winner all inside the last 20 seconds to endear himself to the Red Army in the Perth Wildcats' heart-stopping 103-102 victory over Melbourne United.

A massive crowd of 12,808 was on hand at RAC Arena, and at no point were there more than seven points that separated the two teams, and it was a game destined to go down to the wire.

Melbourne did narrowly lead most of the evening including by as much as seven and again by six inside the last two minutes when Joe Ingles hit a huge three.

But the Wildcats wouldn’t go away and Kristian Doolittle hit the next five points in his 100th game before Knight made his mark in his fourth game since arriving.

Up one end, he got just outside the charge circle to draw the offensive foul on Anthony who did make his layup that would have put Melbourne up three.

It was also Anthony's fifth foul before up the other end, Knight pulled up for the mid-ranger jumper that was all net for the Wildcats to win by one and improve to 5-2.

On top of those two huge plays late, Knight finished with 20 points, three rebounds and two assists.

Doolittle ended up with 23 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists on return to the line-up after missing Saturday night's loss in Sydney while Elijah Pepper responded to a scoreless outing with 22 points.

Melbourne are now 3-5 following the loss despite a huge game from hometown boy Luke Travers, who had 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Josh Oduro was an imposing presence inside with 22 points, four rebounds and two blocks with Anthony finishing with 19 points and three assists, Ingles 11 points, eight assists, six rebounds and three steals, and Sam Waardenburg nine points, six rebounds, five assists and a huge block.

Neither team could really find any momentum in the first quarter although the Wildcats did get into the bonus and drew two fouls each on Cole Anthony and Josh Oduro.

Perth did go 7/7 at the foul line as a result, but it was United leading narrowly 26-25 at quarter-time thanks to a free-throw to Fabijan Krslovic after drawing the foul on Brandon Knight, who had just endeared himself to the Red Army with a go-ahead three-pointer.

Just as the Wildcats did push out to a four-point lead early in the second frame, Melbourne responded with three balls to Shea Ili and Anthony, but the longer the half went the more Oduro was becoming a handful inside.

He had 12 points to half-time and helped United to the 48-46 lead with Kristian Doolittle doing plenty of everything in his 100th game for the Wildcats with 13 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Cole had eight quick points to open the second half to help Melbourne to a six-point edge and he would have 12 in the quarter but still United couldn’t shake the 'Cats to be leading 79-77 by three quarter-time.

Again it was Oduro proving the difference for United with the Wildcats having no answer for him inside with Jesse Wagstaff fouled out and Angus Brandt sitting.

He put Melbourne up four with 3:39 to play before Joe Ingles hit a massive three two minutes late to push the United lead to six but Knight ingratiated himself to the Red Army by taking a huge charge on Anthony with 19 seconds left.

That saw Anthony foul out and up the other end Knight pulled up for the go-ahead mid-range jumper with 8.4 seconds to go with Travers missing the winner on the buzzer.

United have a super quick turnaround to hosting the defending champion Sydney Kings on Sunday while the Wildcats remain at home to Sydney as well on Wednesday in an Ignite Cup match up.

PERTH WILDCATS 103 – MELBOURNE UNITED 102

Perth Wildcats
Kristian Doolittle – 23 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists
Elijah Pepper – 22 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
Brandon Knight – 20 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists
Dylan Windler – 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists
Anthony Dell'Orso – 9 points, 3 rebounds

Melbourne United
Luke Travers – 26 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists
Josh Oduro – 22 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks
Cole Anthony – 19 points, 3 assists, 2 steals
Joe Ingles – 11 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals
Sam Waardenburg – 9 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists