Sixers Make it Two from Two Under CJ

Swapping over a few players for some others to make their first appearance at the NBL Blitz has worked for the Adelaide 36ers under CJ Bruton with them recording a second win over three days in Tasmania, beating the Perth Wildcats 63-56.

The Sixers had their first hit out of the pre-season tournament in Tasmania on Sunday, defeating the Cairns Taipans in overtime. 

Daniel Johnson starred in that outing with 33 points but he sat out against the Wildcats on Tuesday along with Kai Sotto and Todd Withers, but it was a second win for the 36ers by seven points under new coach Bruton.

Perth was making its first appearance at the Blitz only days after uniting with new coach Scott Morrison who joined them in Tasmania after his two weeks of quarantine back in Perth having arrived from the United States.

There was no Mitch Norton, Todd Blanchfield or Michael Frazier for the Wildcats, but Bryce Cotton was back out there and while they will hope to score and shoot better moving forward, they did dust off some cobwebs.

The 36ers opened up a double-figure first half lead and then withstood a Wildcats comeback to win by seven with Next Star Mojave King turning out for the Sixers for the first time and hitting 11 points.

New import Dusty Hannahs looked composed with ball in hand on his way to 11 points, four steals, three rebounds and two assists while late signing Cam Bairstow had another eight points and seven boards.

Sunday Dech added eight points, four rebounds and two assists with Tad Dufelmeier putting up eight points and five rebounds, and captain Mitch McCarron seven points, six boards, four assists and three steals.

Perth shot just 31 per cent from the field while going 7/35 at 20 per cent from deep along with 25 turnovers, but this was their first hit out only days after meeting their coach.

New import Vic Law was scoreless in the first half but finished with 11 points and eight rebounds with Jesse Wagstaff adding 11 points, five boards, three assists and two steals.

Majok Majok is back from injury and had eight points and five boards while Bryce Cotton is back as well and had seven points and three assists.

It was a tough start for the Wildcats but that wasn’t a great surprise given they had only connected with coach Scott Morrison a couple of days ago for the first time while Mitch Norton, Todd Blanchfield and new import Michael Frazier didn’t suit up.

Vic Law didn’t score in the first term and the 'Cats went 2/12 from deep with the 36ers looking a smoother running machine having already played one game at the Blitz to take a 17-12 quarter-time edge.

Adelaide then extended its lead out to double-figures with a 10-2 run to start the second quarter which saw them still on top with a 36-28 edge going into half-time.

A three-point knockdown from Mojave King had Adelaide back up 11 heading towards three quarter-time but Perth wouldn’t go away as is their trademark.

The 'Cats closed to within six by three quarter-time and then the margin was just three early in the fourth when Vic Law connected on a three ball. 

But ultimately the two biggest baskets of the game were courtesy of new Adelaide captain Mitch McCarron. He hit a big three to make the margin six again and then a putback in the final minute secured the seven-point victory.

Perth is next up on Friday in Tasmania against the Brisbane Bullets while Adelaide has until Sunday for their next game when they face the local JackJumpers.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL BLITZ

ADELAIDE 36ERS 63 (Hannahs 11, King 11, Bairstow 8, Dech 8, Dufelmeier 8) 

PERTH WILDCATS 56 (Wagstaff 11, Law 11, Majok 8)

BOX SCORE