Wildcats win first up at the Blitz

Ben Henshall lifted the Perth Wildcats to a first up win at the NBL Blitz as he showed he's ready to take that next leap in NBL26 with his team beating Melbourne United 84-78 in Canberra.

The 'Cats scored the last six points to win by that margin in the first game of the pre-season tournament at the AIS Arena with Henshall showing the way with 16 points, seven rebounds and two steals.

Melbourne had already played a couple of pre-season games last week for wins against the Cairns Taipans and the South East Melbourne Phoenix, and they welcomed in import centre Jesse Edwards fresh off playing for the Dutch national team.

United were still without Chris Goulding and Shea Ili while it was a first pre-season game against real opposition for the Wildcats who are still without Jo Lual-Acuil Jr and awaiting the signing of their new import guard.

Edwards made an immediate impact to his time with Melbourne with an early throwdown before former Tasmania JackJumpers star Milton Doyle landed a three ball only to immediately be answered by Dylan Windler for Perth.

Ben Henshall has recommitted to the 'Cats this season and he went on to score seven opening quarter points for his team to be leading 23-17 after one.

The Wildcats were then able to turn that into the 44-39 advantage by half-time with 12 points to Henshall and 10 to returning import Windler.

Neither team was feeling it from long-range combining to shoot 9/33 from deep before Doyle had a hot finish to the third quarter with a three ball and then a layup just before the buzzer on three quarter-time to level scores up.

Doyle then put Melbourne in front to start the fourth quarter too but a three-point play from David Okwera returned Perth to the lead and Elijah Pepper extended that with a three ball on the back of an NBL1 West season where he averaged over 36 points.

Doyle and Edwards again scored for Melbourne to bring scores back level with two minutes to play, but the Wildcats responded with the last six points at the foul line from Kristian Doolittle and Pepper, and a bucket to games record holding captain Jesse Wagstaff.

Both teams had rough shooting nights with the Wildcats going 9/33 from deep and United 6/30, but there were still encouraging signs from each outfit.

On top of what Henshall did for Perth, Windler ended up with 12 points, four rebounds and two steals, David Okwera 12 points and five boards, Lat Mayen 10 points and three rebounds, and new development player Jaron Rillie eight points, two boards and two assists.

Doyle finished with 15 points and three assists for Melbourne while Edwards was impressive around the basket with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Finn Delany added 12 points and eight rebounds, Tanner Krebs 12 points and eight boards, and import guard Tyson Walker seven points, two rebounds and two blocks despite 2/10 shooting.

The Wildcats will play their second game at the Blitz on Friday night against the defending champion Illawarra Hawks while United play the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday with Chris Goulding expected to suit up.

CODE SPORTS NBL BLITZ 2025/26

PERTH WILDCATS 84 (Henshall 16, Windler 12, Okwera 12)

MELBOURNE UNITED 78 (Doyle 15, Edwards 13, Delany 12)

BOX SCORE

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