Webster the Hero as 'Cats Snatch it From United

It was going to take something special for the Perth Wildcats to stop Melbourne United winning again in RAC Arena and that doesn’t even sum up the 90-89 game-winner from Corey Webster in his 250th NBL appearance on Monday night.

Melbourne arrived in The Jungle having won on the last seven visits and buoyed by a win with a full strength team available over Brisbane on Saturday, United appeared on track for that eighth consecutive victory out west.

Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Shea Ili were putting on a clinic in the backcourt as the night went on. Rathan-Mayes scored 11 straight points in the fourth before Ili drained a three and when Rathan-Mayes put it on a platter for Isaac Humphries, Melbourne were cruising up eight with 45 seconds to go.

Bryce Cotton gave Perth a chance still with the next five points. Then the last 8.2 seconds had to be seen to be believed. With Melbourne up five, Todd Blanchfield knocked down a three and was fouled.

He missed the extra but with the Wildcats once again dominated on the glass all night, it was an offensive rebound on the missed foul shot that was the first dagger. 

Webster then took the pass from Blanchfield, drained the three and the 'Cats celebrated the stunning comeback win 90-89 in one of the great highlights of a 250-game NBL career already featuring three championships.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BANGGGGGG. ?<br><br>What a game.<br><br>Corey Webster just did this in his 250th game ? <a href="https://t.co/0kzU7zWrAa">pic.twitter.com/0kzU7zWrAa</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1602278323228266496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Melbourne will be left to rue how it got away having been up eight with 45 seconds to play, and five with 10 to go. United outrebounded Perth 48 to 36 including having 19 offensive boards for 15 second chance points, but it wasn’t enough.

Cotton finished with 29 points again for the Wildcats with five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Webster delivered 20 points and three assists while Luke Travers was instrumental in the fightback shaking off a rough first half for 11 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

TaShawn Thomas added 13 points and seven rebounds on the back of a hot start to the night.

Afterwards, Webster was just proud of the team's fight to put him a position to play the role of hero.

"It was just an amazing grind out win for the team. Coming into this one we felt like we hadn’t given Melbourne our best shot as the Wildcats this season, and we owed them one," Webster said.

"It feels good now that we've got some rhythm with some wins on the trot to play focused all the way to the end. 

"It's good signs for us and it feels a bit different than it did at the start of the season where we may have given up in the last minute or so. For us to see that growth as a team feels good."

The backcourt combination of Rathan-Mayes (22 points, four rebounds, three assists on 5/7 three-point shooting) and Ili (12 points, three assists, two blocks) was huge for Melbourne.

Chris Goulding also had 20 points despite shooting 2/12 from three with Isaac Humphries contributing 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, and fellow big man Marcus Lee seven points and eight boards. 

United coach Dean Vickerman couldn’t hide the disappointment after the game.

"They have to do a lot of things right to win when you're five up with 10 seconds to go," Vickerman said.

"We contest a tough three and I haven’t looked at how much contact there was on the foul, but that's a big mistake from us to give them an extra possession there. The last possession, I don’t think we got our rules right rebounding with what we've practiced. 

"That gave them one more opportunity and I think any time we made errors tonight, them scoring 21 points off turnovers was pretty huge. For the most part, we played basketball the right way and we moved it, and shared it and played with a really good intent."

Fresh off his best game of the season in Adelaide on Friday, TaShawn Thomas set the tone for a strong start from the Wildcats. He has seven points already in the opening four minutes to help Perth to the 12-4 lead.

Bryce Cotton soon added six points to make it a 20-8 advantage before development player Michael Harris finished strongly after a steal to put the 'Cats on top 24-10.

Melbourne turned it around impressively after cleaning up the turnovers. Dominating the glass helped and United scored the last 11 points of the quarter to cut the deficit to three.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">OPEN UP THE BANK ?<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/QgLDolOVp5">pic.twitter.com/QgLDolOVp5</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1602273591051292672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Melbourne kept that momentum going to start the second term too with a strong finish from Shea Ili turning into a three-point play before a flush from Rayjon Tucker on a spin move, and basket to Goulding.

That saw United complete a 22-3 run from being down 14 to leading by five. Corey Webster steadied Perth with a triple and Cotton tried to keep his team close with the 18 points for the half, but United continued to have all the answers.

On the back of shooting 44 per cent to 35 and pulling down an extra eight rebounds, Melbourne went into the break leading 45-39.

Melbourne threatened to blow the game wide open a couple of times in the third quarter including going up 10 following a three from Ili and finish inside from Humphries.

The margin got out to 14 points later in the period after a putback from Lee, but then the 'Cats found something beginning with Cotton. 

A steal and layup from Jesse Wagstaff, bucket to Webster and then three from Blanchfield gave the Wildcats the last 10 points to make it a four-point ball game by three quarter-time.

Perth opened up the fourth term strongly including two impressive finishes from Travers to put the 'Cats back in front. Rathan-Mayes was having none of it, though, and he turned it on in stunning fashion with Melbourne's next 11 points.

That included three triples and helped United to a six-point lead which was consolidated by a Dave Barlow three-pointer on the back of yet another offensive board from Lee.

A huge three from Ili and then wonderful pass from Rathan-Mayes to Humphries down low had Melbourne back in control leading by eight with 45 seconds to go.

Perth still made one last run thanks to five points to Cotton and Melbourne almost turned over an inbounds pass up five with 13 seconds to go. 

However, the Wildcats had some heroics left. After two Goulding free-throws, Blanchfield drained a three. He was fouled but missed the free-throw and even more remarkably, on an offensive rebound it got to Webster in his milestone game.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Unreal pass from Bryce Cotton! ?<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/cS3iZwdjzX">pic.twitter.com/cS3iZwdjzX</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1602253855802392576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Showing ice in his veins, he coolly drained it to put Perth up one and then his Tall Blacks teammate Ili couldn’t make a floater up the other end.

The Wildcats remain at home to host the New Zealand Breakers on Friday while United is straight back home for the fourth Throwdown of the season with South East Melbourne Phoenix on Thursday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 10

PERTH WILDCATS 90 (Cotton 29, Webster 20, Thomas 13)

MELBOURNE UNITED 89 (Rathan-Mayes 22, Goulding 20, Humphries 12, Ili 12) 

BOX SCORE