Wildcats out blitz Phoenix to open Finals

The Perth Wildcats made a blistering start and then a monstrous finish beating the South East Melbourne Phoenix to open the NBL finals 122-105 in a wildly high-scoring affair.

The Wildcats made a 20-4 start at Perth High Performance Centre for their Seeding Qualifier, with RAC Arena unavailable, but by half-time the Phoenix were leading 67-62 in the highest scoring first half in a 40-minute NBL game.

Perth, though, outscored South East Melbourne 35-9 either side of three quarter-time to earn a more than two-week break before playing Melbourne United in the playoffs.

The Phoenix have one more chance to book a spot against the Illawarra Hawks when they host either Sydney or Adelaide on Sunday.

Entering hostile territory, the Phoenix couldn’t have asked for a worse start with Josh King challenging an out of bounds call on Owen Foxwell after just 19 seconds.

Soon after the Wildcats scored 16 points in-a-row, but once Angus Glover hit the floor everything changed for the Phoenix.

He would score 15 points the rest of the quarter including four three-point bombs and scoring 11 points in a 14-0 run.

The visitors then produced 39 points in the second quarter to go into the main break impressively leading 67-62.

There were plenty of whistles too with the Wildcats taking 28 free throws in the first half to the Phoenix's 21 but it had been a 63-42 turnaround after Perth's 20-4 start.

It was blow for blow for a lot of the third quarter but the Wildcats finished it on a 13-4 run sparked by Keanu Pinder (35 points, 11 rebounds) who was thriving on his battle with Matt Hurt (24 points, three steals).

The 'Cats led by six heading into the fourth which soon became 23 when Pinder threw down a dunk in transition inside the first five minutes to set up the 17-point win.

In a game featuring a combined 227 points, 66 of them came at the foul line, but the Wildcats simply had too many weapons.

Afterwards, King didn’t feel such a high foul count (77 free throws attempted) created a good spectacle.

"I'm exhausted because the game took so long because there was so many free throws taken," he said.

"I'm just learning the league and they were called on both sides, they shot 42 and we shot 35, and it was an ugly game on both sides."

Five-time MVP Bryce Cotton finished with 27 points, six rebounds and four assists, Kristian Doolittle 20 points, 11 boards and five assists, Dylan Windler 13 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, and Ben Henshall 11 points, five boards and four assists.

Wildcats coach John Rillie was just happy with his team's performance to get the win.

"We came in and took care of business the way we were supposed to," he said.

"We've been playing well of late and the guys did a great job in the second half to wrestle back momentum so I think with this team we're slowly starting to see the trust and belief with each other out on the floor."

Glover ended the night with 25 points for the Phoenix on 6/9 from deep with Nathan Sobey adding 22 points, eight assists and five rebounds, and Next Star Malique Lewis 12 points and six boards.

It was the most dramatic of first quarters that all began when Josh King took the advice of Owen Foxwell after 19 seconds to challenge an out of bounds call.

He ended up blowing a timeout and that proved a disaster because after Nathan Sobey opened the scoring, the Wildcats took total control over the next three minutes.

The Wildcats would go on to score 16 straight points and in that time the Phoenix had two turnovers, missed four shots and King couldn’t use up his only other timeout of the half.

Perth went up 20-4, but the introduction of Angus Glover turned the tide for the Phoenix. He scored 11 points in a 14-0 run including draining three from long range.

Things remained tight the rest of the quarter with Perth narrowly leading 29-28 by quarter-time.

It was a second quarter then dominated by plenty more big shots but plenty of players getting to the foul line too. The Wildcats took 19 free throws in the quarter to 13 from the Phoenix, but Glover hit another three for South East Melbourne with Matt Hurt putting up 14 points and Sobey 11.

That had the Phoenix leading 67-62 going into half-time thanks to 39 points to 33 in that second period.

A lot of the third quarter was about Hurt and Keanu Pinder going to battle down low with one another.

When Pinder blocked Hurt up one end and scored up the other, it was the spark to see Perth finish the third quarter on a 13-4 lead and to lead 96-90 by three quarter-time.

The Wildcats were unstoppable to start the final quarter and a scorching 13-0 run sealed the deal and Pinder capped it off with a dunk in their one off return to their former home.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL FINALS 2025

PERTH WILDCATS 122 (Pinder 35, Cotton 27, Doolittle 20)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 105 (Glover 25, Hurt 24, Sobey 22)

BOX SCORE