Triple Threat Leads Wildcats to Win in Adelaide

Some late Bryce Cotton magic topped off with him being backed up with two teammates scoring 20-plus has helped the Perth Wildcats overcome another horror night on the glass to beat the Adelaide 36ers 98-90 on Friday.

It was the third meeting between the old rivals this season as they continue to jostle over that sixth and last play-in position, and for the evening at Adelaide Entertainment Centre no more than eight points separated them.

The 36ers pinched the momentum with a 9-0 run during the fourth quarter to go from six down to three up but then it was time for Cotton to take over. 

The three-time champion and MVP scored nine straight dagger points to seal the win for Perth, but it was all started with two more buckets to Corey Webster and TaShawn Thomas who gave great second and third scoring options.

The win for the Wildcats came despite once again having a rough night on the boards. Adelaide collected 42 rebounds to 31 for the game.

It was 19 offensive boards for 23 second chance points, including nine of those to captain Mitch McCarron alone that threatened to be the difference. 

However, the Wildcats overcame that and it was through having three players all having terrific offensive nights, and this time Brady Manek wasn’t one of them. 

He had just two points on 1/5 but his frontcourt teammate Thomas had his best night in the NBL with 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Webster backed up his season-best night back in Auckland on Saturday with another 22 points.

Then there was Cotton who produced 32 points and six assists including hitting four threes and going 12/12 at the charity stripe.

Vice-captain Mitch Norton also had seven points and two rebounds in the 300th game of his NBL career.

Wildcats coach John Rillie was impressed with the effort and energy levels for the second straight game.

"I think the thing we've done a great job of over the last couple of games is we've just competed a lot better from the start to finish," Rillie said. 

"It's amazing how things then start to go your way. We've got some great players who we can rely on in the clutch, but if we don’t get to the clutch it doesn’t matter. 

"We're getting contributors all over the floor in the last couple of games and that's the biggest difference for us. It's exciting right now but we've got a big game Monday so we can't get fat and happy just because we win two games."

Speaking of milestone men, seven-time club MVP Daniel Johnson had 10 points and five rebounds for Adelaide in his 400th game while captain McCarron was superb with 20 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.

Robert Franks added 19 points and five boards, Antonius Cleveland 13 points, four rebounds and three assists, and Anthony Drmic 11 points.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mr 400 games gets his first bucket of the night. ?<br><br>Catch the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> action live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/AfNuNNm766">pic.twitter.com/AfNuNNm766</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1601136985736814593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Adelaide coach CJ Bruton liked a lot of what his team did, but ultimately they didn't have Bryce Cotton.

"There were a couple of good things to take out of it, we had a good start and then down the stretch, yeah we didn’t play as well in the last few minutes so there's a few things to clean up and continue to get better at," Bruton said. 

"There are some breakdowns that we can still improve on, but Bryce Cotton is Bryce. We all understand he's been the league MVP, he's won championships and he's done this time and time again, but it took him 22 shots to get it done. 

"The one thing different than last game was that he made 12 free-throws. We made him work hard to get his numbers and take that many shots, but he had to do that for them to be successful."

A three-pointer from Corey Webster gave Perth the early 7-4 advantage but the Sixers were causing havoc getting in the passing lanes and that sparked a 6-0 run including a breakaway layup to Mitch McCarron, free-throws to Daniel Johnson and then a first field goal of the night to the milestone man.

Another steal and layup to McCarron followed by baskets to Anthony Drmic and Kai Sotto soon had the 36ers on top 16-10, but out of a timeout the Wildcats hit back well starting with scores to TaShawn Thomas and their milestone man, Mitch Norton.

A late Antonius Cleveland triple helped Adelaide to lead 25-20 by quarter-time, though, on the back of shooting 64 per cent to Perth's 50, and pulling down 11 rebounds to six.

The 'Cats hit back quickly to start the second quarter going on a 10-2 scoring run sparked by good work inside from Thomas and Luke Travers. That put the Wildcats in front and they were able to push that lead out to three on the back of a triple from Cotton.

Adelaide did respond and when Nick Marshall and Robert Franks made threes of their own, the home team was back on top but it didn’t last. A trademark long ball dagger on the buzzer from Cotton gave him 13 points for the half and gave the Wildcats the 49-46 edge.

That was despite Adelaide winning the rebound count by seven including scoring 11 second chance points to four, but with Thomas and Cotton combining for 27 points, the visitors were narrowly on top.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Big shot at the buzzer by <a href="https://twitter.com/BCotton_11?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BCotton_11</a> ?<br>Catch the second half live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/g3DiFP3vAj">pic.twitter.com/g3DiFP3vAj</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1601146879848218626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Perth's lead grew to seven early in the second half with Thomas scoring again, Travers putting one back and then Webster draining a three. The Sixers did reply with the next six points with four of them courtesy of Franks.

Johnson knocked one down from beyond the arc to begin another 7-0 Adelaide run and they had turned the tide back in their favour for a four-point edge.

The game of runs continued and Cotton inspired Perth to a 7-2 close to the third quarter which saw the visitors lead 69-68 at three quarter-time.

Cotton threatened to take the game away from Adelaide with five quick points to start the fourth too, but Cleveland stepped up for the Sixers after a relatively quiet evening up to that point.

He scored his team's next eight points including hitting two triples and it was just a three-point game with five minutes on the clock.

Two free-throws to Franks then brought the margin back to one before the Sixers grabbed the lead on the back of a tip-in from McCarron on his seventh o-board for the night. Another steal led to a Drmic layup and suddenly the home team had all the momentum and a three-point edge.

It had been a game of runs all night, though, and that continued with the next four points for Perth through Webster and Thomas to have the Wildcats back up one with 2:17 left as CJ Bruton called for time.

It was Cotton time though. The three-time MVP knocked down a massive three followed up by stopping on a dime and stepping back to hit a pretty mid-range jumper on Cleveland.

That had the 'Cats back up six with the 9-0 run before a horror Adelaide turnover with a minute to play leading into a timeout. Cotton and Webster sealed the deal at the stripe for Perth who won by eight.

Both teams play again in Round 10 with the Sixers on the road to the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Sunday. The Wildcats return home to host Melbourne United in their first game at RAC Arena since losing to Adelaide on November 24.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 10

ADELAIDE 36ERS 90 (McCarron 20, Franks 19, Cleveland 13)

PERTH WILDCATS 98 (Cotton 32, Webster 22, Thomas 22) 

BOX SCORE