Fall, Mooney fire for NZ but 'Cats prevail

Tacko Fall was a dominant presence and Matt Mooney caught fire for 17 third-quarter points but Bryce Cotton scored another 41 points and the Perth Wildcats prevailed 96-86 on the road to the New Zealand Breakers.

Fall was imposing with 28 points in 26 minutes and then Mooney finished with 28, but he fouled out with just over four minutes left at Spark Arena on Sunday with the Wildcats scoring 14 of the last 19 points.

The Breakers were back home having snapped an eight-game losing streak on New Year's Eve in Cairns for a first win with Fall, and the first of five without the suspended Parker Jackson-Cartwright.

The Wildcats had won three of four so far on their current road trip, and fresh having not played since their 24-point win in Adelaide last Saturday.

Fall proved a dominant force with 21 points in the first half for New Zealand, but in the almost eight minutes he was sitting, Perth took full advantage to lead by 11 at half-time.

Mooney willed the Breakers back into the game with a 17-point third quarter, but still the 'Cats were up two at three quarter-time.

It was a dramatic start to the fourth quarter but when Mooney fouled out the game turned the Wildcats favour for good.

Perth outscored New Zealand 14-5 from there to win by 10 to improve to 12-9 on the season having won four of five on this current road trip.

Cotton delivered another 41 points with four assists on 13/26 shooting and going 12/16 from the foul line with Ben Henshall providing 11 points, Keanu Pinder nine points and four rebounds, and Dylan Windler nine points, seven boards, four assists, two steals and two blocks.

Wildcats coach John Rillie was happy with the fighting performance from his team.

"It was great for us to show some resolve and they did a great job in the third quarter to make it a game," he said.

"For us to stay with it and not let the emotion in an arena with a nice atmosphere get on top of us, we did a great job as a team handling that situation and Bryce made some big time shots."

The Breakers are now 8-12 having lost nine of the last 10 with Fall finishing with 28 points, eight rebounds and four blocks on 10/12 field goal shooting and 8/11 at the line.

Mooney also had 28 points on 10/14 shooting with six assists while Max Darling contributed eight points and six rebounds, and Mitch McCarron seven points, six boards and three assists.

It was a frustrated Breakers coach Petteri Koponen afterwards.

"We fought and tried, and everybody stuck to the game plan and we were there the whole game," he said.

"Then of course, to lose one of our guys like this (Mooney), it's tough and Mojave (King) also already got injured and couldn’t play in the second half.

"We had to shorten the rotation and maybe lacked some energy in the end, but in the end we fought and had a chance but what happened, happened and it feels frustrating to lose the game that way."

Tacko Fall was proving unstoppable early for the Breakers when they dumped the ball inside to him and he had 12 quick points for his team to lead 17-14, but once he subbed out of the game the complexion changed completely.

The Wildcats took charge the rest of the quarter including with three-pointers to Todd Withers and Bryce Cotton to outscore the Breakers 16-7 to go into the first break leading 30-24 on 64 per cent shooting to the 52 from New Zealand.

The Breakers started the second quarter strongly and went on a 9-0 run to reclaim the lead with Max Darling hitting a three and the presence of Fall again significant.

Fall then added another quick four points to keep New Zealand in front, but again Perth took advantage when he went off with 10 consecutive points to break the game open.

Cotton then scored the last six points of the half himself to go into the break with 17 and the 'Cats were leading 55-44 as a result despite the 21 points from Fall who only played just over 12 minutes.

Fall then had another strong start to the second half with seven more points to go to 28 but this time it was with him off the floor that New Zealand made their run.

Matt Mooney scored nine quick points himself including a pair of three balls to give the home team the lead, and by three quarter-time Mooney had scored 17 points himself for the term.

However, Perth were still clinging to the two-point lead and pushed that back out to six early in the final period on the back of three-point daggers from Ben Henshall and Cotton.

Mooney was right back into the game to lead New Zealand to a 7-0 run to take back the lead, but he fouled out soon after and Perth scored 12 of the next 15 points for the eventual 10-point win.

The Breakers now have the quick turnaround to taking on the Bullets in Brisbane on Wednesday night while the Wildcats play their second last of this road stretch against the Tasmania JackJumpers next Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 86 (Mooney 28, Fall 28, Darling 8)

PERTH WILDCATS 96 (Cotton 41, Henshall 11, Pinder 9, Windler 9)

BOX SCORE