Hawks dig deep for big win in Perth

The Illawarra Hawks dug deep and withstood another 40 points from Bryce Cotton to come up big late to beat the Perth Wildcats 121-111 in their last home game of 2024 on Friday night.

The Wildcats were playing at RAC Arena for the last time until January 17 and on the back of Cotton's record setting 59-point performance in Sunday's win against the New Zealand Breakers, there was great expectation from the home fans.

What they saw was a spectacular offensive display from both teams and by the end of the night they combined for 232 points to shoot 55.6 per from the floor and going 26/58 from long-range at 44.8 per cent.

Cotton did threaten to blow the game apart with 17 of his 40 points for the game coming in the third quarter where he hit three triples and had a huge putback slam, but the Hawks wouldn’t be deterred.

The biggest lead of the game came at the end with the Hawks going on a 10-0 scoring run to turn a one-point deficit into the 10-point victory.

The win improves Illawarra to a 9-5 record to retain second spot with Trey Kell III outstanding with 26 points, five assists and four rebounds.

Wani Swaka Lo Buluk added 17 points, three rebounds and three steals, Sam Froling 17 points and seven boards, Darius Days 15 points and 11 rebounds, Mason Peatling 14 points, Lachlan Olbrich 12 points and four assists, and Tyler Harvey eight points and six assists.

Perth will now have seven straight road games and start that at 8-8 and with doubt over Kristian Doolittle who left the game early with a groin injury and already missing Keanu Pinder.

Cotton finished with 40 points on 15/23 shooting with 6/9 from deep with Izan Almansa adding 15 points and nine rebounds, Elijah Pepper 14 points on 4/6 three-point shooting, and Ben Henshall 12 points.

Both teams came into the contest as two of the three highest scoring teams in the league and they lived up to that billing in the first quarter combining for 59 points.

By quarter-time it was the Wildcats leading narrowly 30-29 with Bryce Cotton scoring their last seven points to see him end the first term already on 13 points thanks to a perfect 4/4 shooting performance both from the field and foul line.

Tyler Harvey picking up a third foul wasn’t ideal for the Hawks in the second quarter, but they didn’t let it slow them down and they produced another 26 points to 23 for the period to head into half-time leading 55-53.

That was on the back of shooting 52 per cent as a team with Darius Days producing 12 points and Lachlan Olbrich 10, both off the bench, but the Wildcats stayed in touch thanks to Cotton's 19 points at the half even having lost Kristian Doolittle to a groin injury.

Things went up to fever pitch in the third quarter and the Hawks hit the first five points to open up a seven-point lead before Ben Henshall hit back-to-back threes before he missed on his next attempt.

That turned into a positive because it allowed Cotton to show his hops with a monster putback dunk. He rode that momentum to end up with 17 points in the period on a perfect 3/3 from downtown to have 36 for the game with a quarter to play.

The 'Cats scored 38 points to 31 in the third frame to lead 91-88 with one to play and even with Perth going back up five, the Hawks wouldn’t go away and were back level with five minutes to play with a nice mid-range jumper from Trey Kell III.

Next possession and Kell drained a three to put Illawarra up by that margin but the lead continued to exchange hands until a three ball from Wani Swaka Lo Buluk and then his layup off a steal for the Hawks to be up four with 1:45 to go.

The Hawks went on to score the next five points as well to lead by nine and end up winning by 10 despite Cotton getting to 40.

The Wildcats now don't play another home game until January 17 and begin the run of seven road matches in Adelaide on Sunday while the Hawks next take on Melbourne United at John Cain Arena next Friday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

PERTH WILDCATS 111 (Cotton 40, Almansa 15, Pepper 14)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 121 (Kell III 26, Froling 17, Swaka Lo Buluk 17)

BOX SCORE