Cotton delivers 'Cats win over Sixers

There are no guarantees Bryce Cotton will ever step on RAC Arena again but he delivered a spectacular 49-point performance to lead the Perth Wildcats to the 112-104 win over the Adelaide 36ers.

A monster crowd of 13,559 was on hand and the 36ers came with an attitude to compete with Montrezl Harrell (24 points, six rebounds) and Kendric Davis (34 points, eight assists) terrific even though they couldn’t move from sixth spot.

But Cotton just wouldn’t be denied as he finished with 49 points and seven assists including going 9/18 from three-point range and 10/11 at the foul line.

After Lat Mayen put Adelaide back in front with seven minutes to play after back-to-back threes and block on Keanu Pinder, it was all Cotton.

He knocked down three more triples, scored on a layup after chasing down an offensive rebound, and the Wildcats went on to win by eight having been down 11 early in the third quarter.

The Wildcats finish at 18-11 and can't end up lower than third. There's still a chance to go second with an 18-point or more Melbourne United loss to the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

If the Wildcats stay third, they will host the Phoenix on Tuesday but it won't be at RAC Arena due to it being unavailable and will be at the 4500-capacity Perth High Performance Centre.

Either way, Perth finishes the regular season with three straight wins with Pinder having 18 points and 11 rebounds, Kristian Doolittle 14 points, nine assists and seven boards, and Dylan Windler 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Wildcats coach John Rillie enjoyed the Cotton show as much as anyone.

"Coaches, when someone gets in a zone like that, you need to stay out of the way," he said.

"So when I feel that and the way he's playing, I just sit there and watch and admire because there's only so many chances and opportunities you get to see someone perform at that level.

"He's produced five, six of those type of performances in one year, it's pretty special."

The 36ers finish their season in sixth spot at 13-16. Even though they have lost three straight, will like their chances in a cut-throat play-in game in Sydney next week against the Kings having already won there twice.

Sixers coach Mike Wells had to tip his hat to Cotton but was happy with his team's effort.

"I'm probably the only guy who has been in games as a coach against Michael Jordan and Bryce, in a lot of ways, with the way he plays and the things he can do, and how he turns it on is really unique," he said.

"I have tonnes of respect for him and hats off to him but on the back end of that, hats off to my guys because we were battling the whole way."

Harrell threatened to be a match winner before fouling out with 4:45 to go while Davis was superb once more and DJ Vasiljevic added 16 points and Mayen 13 points, four rebounds and two blocks.

After Perth hit the game's first four points, Adelaide took control and it was Montrezl Harrell looking to make an imposing statement as he scored six points in a 10-0 run with the other four coming on buckets to captain DJ Vasiljevic.

Adelaide went on another 9-0 run shortly before quarter-time with Kendric Davis scoring five of those and as a result it was the 36ers on top 27-20 after one with 57 per cent shooting to 50.

Bryce Cotton came out with two quick threes in the second quarter for the Wildcats but Harrell responded with three straight buckets up the other end to go to 16 points.

His second half ended early thanks to a third foul, but Davis saw that as the nod he needed to take over. He scored 10 of his 23 points for the half after Harrell sat down with the Wildcats leading 56-49 by the break.

The big names had come to play with Davis and Harrell combining for 39 points for Adelaide and Cotton had 18 for Perth, and the seesaw affair continued in the third quarter.

Vasiljevic hit five quick points to help Adelaide to an 11-point lead, but the Wildcats responded to outscore the 36ers 27 points to 13 the rest of the quarter to be up by three heading into the fourth.

Harrell knocked down a three to lock scores up again to open the fourth but then Cotton responded with the next five points but then Lat Mayen put his stamp on the contest.

He made two threes up one end for the 36ers and had a huge block on an attempted dunk from Keanu Pinder up the other to return Adelaide to the lead with 7:15 on the clock.

Cotton then had a spectacular couple of minutes with a pair of triples and then chasing down an offensive rebound to go in and complete the layup to put the 'Cats back up five.

He nailed another three soon after to push the lead out to six and it was as much as nine, but the 36ers kept on coming and got back within two when Sunday Dech knocked down a three-pointer of his own.

In the end Cotton iced the game with three more free-throws with just over 30 seconds to go.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

PERTH WILDCATS 112 (Cotton 49, Pinder 18, Windler 15)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 104 (Davis 34, Harrell 24, Mayen 13)

BOX SCORE