Pepper inspires hot Wildcats shooting night

Elijah Pepper went into NBL1 mode with seven three-pointers and the Perth Wildcats as a team knocked down 15/27 from downtown to shake off 34 points from Jack McVeigh to dominate the Cairns Taipans 106-69 for a fifth straight win.

The fifth-placed Wildcats continued their hot form to make it five consecutive wins by shooting a blistering 61 per cent from the field against the hapless Taipans who had few answers despite McVeigh's eight three-pointers at RAC Arena on Thursday night.

After a free-flowing opening half where the three balls were falling for either team, the Wildcats were only leading 54-43 by half-time but then they blew the game apart in the third quarter with Pepper at the forefront.

Having come into this NBL season on the back of a remarkable NBL1 West season at the Warwick Senators where he averaged 36 points and set an NBL1 record nationally with a 59-point outburst, he found that shooting form against the Snakes.

Pepper scored 20 of his points the third quarter alone with six three-pointers and he finished the night with a career-best 25 points on 7/9 shooting from deep with three rebounds, three assists and three steals.

He had plenty of help too on a 'Cats team that shot 40/66 from the field and went at 56 per cent from downtown to improve to a 16-10 record and to be banging on the door of Melbourne United in fourth place.

Kristian Doolittle made all three of his three-point attempts for 19 points, four rebounds and two assists with Dylan Windler adding 15 points and five assists, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr 12 points and six rebounds, Ben Henshall 10 points and seven assists, and David Okwera nine points, four boards, four assists and two blocks.

McVeigh played a virtual lone hand for the Taipans with 34 points with 8/15 three-point shooting while it was a tough night for point guard Andrew Andrews with eight points, eight assists and six turnovers.

Lachlan Barker did add nine points for Cairns, and Kody Stattmann eight but Mojave King didn’t make a field goal with his two lone points coming at the foul line.

Import pair Admiral Schofield and Marcus Lee also only managed to combine for six points on 2/6 shooting in 34 minutes.

An 11-0 rush either side of quarter-time bumped Perth's slender 26-25 lead to 37-25.

The Wildcats held sway 54-43 at half-time, a margin that would have been greater if it wasn't for the brilliance of McVeigh, who single-handedly kept Cairns alive, scoring 20 first-half points, which included six triples.

The Taipans were never remotely in the hunt again.

Pepper scored the first eight points of the third term - and he didn't stop there with the 20 points for the period.

Perth hit 13/16 from the field in the quarter and 8/9 from behind the arc - a figure which had been perfect until Pepper missed a long prayer on the three quarter-time buzzer.

While the Wildcats blazed away, McVeigh at one stage had Cairns' only 10 points of the term and scored 30 of the Snakes' first 53 points.

McVeigh's obvious frustration mounted late in the fourth when he earned himself a technical foul for hotly disputing a non-call, while Perth's shooting only cooled off with the finish line in sight.

Cairns now have the super quick turnaround to taking on the second placed South East Melbourne Phoenix in Melbourne on Saturday while the Wildcats remain at home in a tantalising match up to Melbourne United at RAC Arena on Sunday.

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

PERTH WILDCATS 106 (Pepper 25, Doolittle 19, Windler 15)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 69 (McVeigh 34, Barker 9, Andrews 8, Stattmann 8)

BOX SCORE‍