Bryce's stunning return as Wildcats win

Bryce Cotton reminded the NBL community why he is still the best player in the competition returning from a rib injury to put up 33 points in 32 minutes to lead the Perth Wildcats to the 97-84 home win against the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Cotton, who won the fourth of his MVP awards just last season, has missed the past five games after suffering a dislodged rib in the opening minutes of the October 19 loss in Auckland to the New Zealand Breakers.

He returned at RAC Arena on Friday night but the Wildcats were up against a rejuvenated Phoenix team under new coach Josh King who had been making their mark defensively over the past seven matches.

South East Melbourne started on fire with the first 10 points to quieten the home crowd. They were still leading 26-18 by the end of one but everything changed in the second period.

The Wildcats put up 40 points with Cotton scoring 16 which saw the home team turn that eight-point deficit into the 58-48 lead by the main break on 51 per cent field goal shooting and double South East Melbourne's free-throw attempts.

The foul count was 12 to one in that quarter and by the end of the game it was 25 to 10 with Perth attempting 30 free throws to just the 10 from South East Melbourne.

Perth import trio Cotton, Dylan Windler and Kristian Doolittle combined for 44 of those 58 points in the first half too.

The 'Cats outscored the Phoenix 18 points to 12 in the third quarter before scoring the first five of the fourth period.

The lead blew out to 22 and even with the Phoenix getting back within 10, Perth still won by 13 to improve to 6-6.

On top of Cotton's 33 points, five rebounds and four assists with 13/14 at the foul line, Winder hit 4/5 from deep for 20 points with Doolittle ending up with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Wildcats coach John Rillie was especially happy with the response to the slow start.

"Any time you get a win like that on your home floor it's good," he said.

"The way that we clawed back and had that 12-point quarter defensively (third), that really set the tone for the rest of the game I felt."

South East Melbourne now sits at 5-8 heading into the FIBA break with Matt Hurt outstanding again with 27 points and 10 rebounds.

Nathan Sobey added 17 points while Next Star Malique Lewis was another shining light with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists.

South East Melbourne coach Josh King admitted his team didn’t play as well as they have been, but the foul count didn’t help.

"I'll just state facts because I don’t want to get fined, I believe the foul count was 12-1 in the second quarter and I've never seen anything like that," he said.

"Then the final foul count, this is a fact, was 25-10, oh man, so it's tough to play on the road against a really good team with really good players, that's a fact and Perth is that.

"It's a tough place to play but combined with those facts I stated, it gets really difficult."

The Phoenix flew out of the gates with the game's opening 10 points including three-pointers to Nathan Sobey and Angus Glover inside the first two minutes.

That soon became a 13-2 lead and it was 20-9 soon after when Sobey knocked down a three ball, but from there the Wildcats began to work back into the contest with Dylan Windler scoring their next nine points.

South East Melbourne were still leading 26-18 by the end of one but Perth produced a scintillating second quarter and it was Cotton in his return game that got the ball rolling with consecutive three-pointers.

The 'Cats hit the front soon after when Windler hit another triple and then Perth closed out the first half with a 17-5 run including the last seven points with four of those to Cotton including after a tech on Phoenix coach Josh King.

That saw the Wildcats on top 58-48 at the break on the back of a 40-point quarter against a team that's been regularly holding teams in the 70s over the past seven games.

Five more quick points to Cotton early in the second half saw the Wildcats lead get out to double-figures and it grew out to 16 by three quarter-time with the four-time MVP already having 28 points to his name in 24 minutes.

Perth did push that lead out to 22 early in the fourth quarter but to South East Melbourne's credit the visitors kept on fighting and with Malique Lewis, Sobey and Hurt doing the damage, they got back within 10.

But the 'Cats kept having the answers including a fourth three-pointer to Windler with just two minutes to go on the way to the eventual 13-point win.

The Wildcats now have another back-to-back weekend up against the Brisbane Bullets in Brisbane on Sunday afternoon while the Phoenix don't play again until hosting the Illawarra Hawks on November 30.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

PERTH WILDCATS 97 (Cotton 33, Windler 20, Doolittle 12)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 84 (Hurt 27, Sobey 17, Lewis 15)

BOX SCORE