Wildcats fire late to beat Phoenix

The Perth Wildcats were staring down the barrel of a third straight home defeat before coming from 12 points down to put up 34 in the final quarter to beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix 100-99.

After winning six of seven on the road and returning home to beat Adelaide, Perth slipped up twice last week at RAC Arena to Melbourne and Cairns, and then South East Melbourne had them on their knees.

After hitting just one three the entire first half, the Phoenix made seven through the third quarter and early in the fourth to be leading by 12 but the Wildcats took charge from there.

They completely turned the momentum and when Bryce Cotton made back-to-back threes with just over two minutes to play, the 'Cats were out to a seven-point lead and won by a point to go fourth with the Phoenix now fifth.

Both teams came into the match up on identical 15-11 records and played like it was an early finals match up from the outset.

No more than five points separated them in the first half with scores tied at 49-49 by half-time despite the Phoenix going just 1/9 from three.

Perth was sharing the ball better with 12 assists to the half after 14 in the entire double overtime game last Saturday against Cairns, but the Phoenix stuck to their guns and produced a standout third quarter.

After just one three in the first half, they knocked down six in the third term with two each to Joe Wieskamp (10 points) and Malique Lewis (10 points).

Nathan Sobey (eight points, three assists) hit another on three quarter-time with South East Melbourne's lead out to 11, and then it was 12 when he hit another to start the fourth.

It was all the Wildcats from there, though, as they put up 32 points to 19 the rest of the way with only a Ben Ayre (14 points) three on the buzzer bringing South East Melbourne back within a point.

Cotton finished with another 29 points and six assists for Perth with Keanu Pinder adding 22 points and seven rebounds, and Kristian Doolittle 17 points, 13 boards and six assists.

Wildcats coach John Rillie was rightfully proud of his team's fourth quarter performance.

"We found a way like in both games last week we couldn’t find a way despite having opportunities," he said.

"Tonight we found a way and capitalised on those opportunities, but it just reflects the time of the season we're at right now."

Matt Hurt top-scored for South East Melbourne with 19 points and seven rebounds with Jordan Hunter adding 13 points and 13 boards, and Owen Foxwell 13 points from the starting five.

While obviously disappointed to lose, Phoenix coach Josh King couldn’t fault his team's efforts.

"I'm proud of my guys, we played a really good game on the road against a tough team who was playing desperate, urgent," he said.

"I think for the most part we stuck to the game plan and knew we had to concentrate in the fourth quarter, and we didn’t quite play our best down the stretch and maybe ran out of a bit of gas."

It was blow for blow right throughout the opening quarter and even with Bryce Cotton not scoring until the final minute, the Wildcats did manage to be holding a narrow 27-26 advantage despite the 10 South East Melbourne points from Matt Hurt.

Cotton did catch fire for a period in the second term with six quick points, but again the Wildcats couldn’t manage a lead of more than four points and with the Phoenix scoring the last four points of the half, things were all tied up at 49-49 by the main break.

South East Melbourne made just one three in the first half, but made three in the first five minutes of the third term with a couple to Joe Wieskamp and another to Malique Lewis.

Angus Glover hit another heading towards three quarter-time to keep the Phoenix leading by four before Lewis hit a second, and they had earned their eight-point lead by the end of the third.

South East Melbourne's lead was out to 12 with another triple to Sobey early in the fourth but the Wildcats refused to accept a third straight home defeat.

It started with two buckets in transition to Tai Webster, a couple of buckets to Pinder, a triple to Ben Henshall and then Cotton put his seal on the deal with consecutive three-point bombs.

That had the 'Cats leading again by seven with 2:23 to play having been down 12 earlier in the quarter and from there the Wildcats go the job done to win by the solitary point after two late Phoenix triples to Glover and Ben Ayre.

Both teams have the short turnaround for monster games on Sunday with the Wildcats first up against the Sydney Kings in Jesse Wagstaff's 500th NBL game.

The Phoenix will then play their first game back at John Cain Arena since December 21 up against the Adelaide 36ers.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

PERTH WILDCATS 100 (Cotton 29, Pinder 22, Doolittle 17)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 99 (Hurt 19, Ayre 14, Foxwell 13, Hunter 13)

BOX SCORE