Cotton unstoppable as Wildcats beat Breakers

Bryce Cotton produced another unstoppable performance that not only is making him unbackable favourite for a fourth MVP crown, but is putting Perth Wildcats in the title hunt with 108-102 win over the New Zealand Breakers.

The Wildcats were up against a Breakers team at Spark Arena having won four straight to be in their best patch of form of the season, and then conceded 35 points in the opening quarter.

The 'Cats worked their way on top from there and outscored the Breakers 55 points to 44 in the second half for the six-point win to remain second at 12-7.

Cotton was once again brilliant for Perth. New Zealand just couldn’t avoid fouling him whether the three-time champion was shooting a jumper or going to the rack.

He finished with 31 points on 16-of-17 free-throw shooting.

Keanu Pinder was impressive with his rim protection with 18 points as Perth won without Next Star Alex Sarr.

Kiwi pair Tai Webster (11 points, seven rebounds, two steals) and Hyrum Harris (11 points, eight boards) were important too with captain Jesse Wagstaff adding 11 points and Kristian Doolittle 11 along with six rebounds and five assists.

Wildcats coach John Rillie liked how his team took care of the little things that contribute to winning.

"After quarter-time we respected the little things in the game," he said.

"We talked about rebounding at half-time and we ended up winning the count by 13 in the end and it's about doing those sort of things, and respecting that end of the floor so we can get out and play some offence."

It was an offensive onslaught from the Breakers in the opening quarter with 35 points and a 12-2 run to lead by 11 but the Wildcats were staying in the contest by getting to the foul line.

Despite only shooting 37 per cent from the field in the first half, they made all 16 free-throws to limit the New Zealand lead to 58-53.

Harris sparked the 'Cats with seven quick points to start the second half and then Cotton took charge.

The three-time MVP put up 15 points in the third quarter alone with nine of them coming at the charity stripe.

Perth scored 34 points to 19 in the third quarter on the back of that to open up a 12-point lead, and went on with the job to lead by as much as 18.

The Wildcats made their first 33 free-throws of the game. Even when Doolittle missed late, he got an offensive rebound and then made the next two for them to go 35-of-39.

New Zealand is now 8-10 with the loss with Anthony Lamb putting up 27 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and Zylan Cheatham 25 points and six boards.

Breakers coach Mody Maor hopes his team learned some lessons ahead of hosting the league-leading Melbourne United on Friday.

"We played against a very good team and I think they taught us a little bit of a lesson about what wins games," Maor said.

"For big parts of the game today, we didn’t do the small things that are very important to winning and when you play against the best in the competition, and you don't do those things, your chances to win are very small."

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 14

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 102 (Lamb 27, Cheatham 25, Jackson-Cartwright 11)

PERTH WILDCATS 108 (Cotton 31, Pinder 18, Webster/Doolittle/Harris/Wagstaff 11)

BOX SCORE