No complacency for red-hot Perth

Friday, December 29, 2023

The Wildcats have ended their holiday period road trip with a big win, but John Rillie isn't resting on his laurels.

Perth's Christmas road trip is over and while its next game is away in New Zealand against the Breakers, the Wildcats now have a short opportunity to take stock on their past three games.

John Rillie's team travelled to Melbourne, Cairns and Adelaide over the Christmas period and have emerged from the tough run with two victories and an overtime defeat. Last night’s big win over Adelaide was the full stop on a successful week for the side.

Perth overcame the 36ers by 18 points on Thursday night, with the big win being set up by a monster 28-9 third quarter, but a seven-point deficit in the final quarter trimmed the final margin.

Perth head coach Rillie says that final quarter was a disappointing end to what was otherwise a night to remember.

“We had a nice third quarter, we had a nice flow in the first half, but to build the lead like we did and then the final score probably doesn’t truly reflect how we played for most of the game,” Rillie said.

“So that’s disappointing.

“Since (Scott) Ninnis has taken over they’ve done a good job at trying to push the pace and create easy opportunities – especially off turnovers – so we preached and talked a lot about that and we did a great job of that early on.”

The Wildcats ended the game with four players in double-digit scoring. Bryce Cotton led the way with a game-high 24 points, while Kristian Doolittle continued his immense run of form with 19 points.

The import forward earned the second highest number of votes in the Round 12 Chemist Warehouse Fans MVP voting, and Rillie praised his ability as a Best Defensive Player candidate following the Boxing Day win over Cairns.

Doolittle’s teammate Keanu Pinder continued the praise for the forward.

“Kristian’s been great, he flies under the radar with the hype train, but he should be hyped up a lot more than he is,” Pinder said.

“He does a great job for us on the defensive end and on the offensive end. He does all the little things and he’s really great for us. I’m glad we have him in our team.”

The Wildcats have now moved one game clear of Tasmania into second place, and will next face the Breakers on Sunday, January 7.