Cotton Fires Redemption Wildcats

Bryce Cotton set the stage and got plenty of help as the Perth Wildcats started their quest to get back to the NBL finals in style opening the new season with an impressive 87-73 home win against the Brisbane Bullets on Sunday.

The remarkable 35-season playoff run of the Wildcats ended earlier this year and while there is a new coach John Rillie and a couple of new imports, a lot of the same squad is back in NBL23 with redemption on their mind.

It was never going to be easy at RAC Arena on Sunday with the Bullets boosted with former NBA guns Aron Baynes and Tyler Johnson, to a team full of NBL1 champions – Devondrick Walker, Harry Froling, Jason Cadee, Tanner Krebs and DJ Mitchell.

Brisbane made a hot start to lead 15-4 early, but from then on triple MVP and three-time champion Cotton took over. He had 17 points in the first half to set the tone for the 'Cats and then his teammates backed him up.

Perth dominated the rest of the way to win by 14 on the back of forcing Brisbane into 24 turnovers to take seven extra shots and three more free-throws.

Cotton ended up with 23 points, 12 rebounds and six assists but it was the amount of help he received that was most encouraging.

Having not played in the pre-season but winning 3x3 silver at the Commonwealth Games, captain Jesse Wagstaff hit 4/5 from three for 14 points with new import big TaShawn Thomas delivering 12 points and six assists.

Corey Webster added 11 points in his debut for Perth while Luke Travers contributed nine points and seven assists, and Brady Manek eight points and four rebounds.

Wildcats coach John Rillie couldn’t have asked for much more to start his life as a head coach in the NBL.

"We came and accomplished what we've been trying to do for six weeks," Rillie said.

"It was a great way to start the season to get back in here with a full crowd and to play in front of that atmosphere. The players have been working hard for six weeks so to get rewarded with that type of win is a good start."

All eyes were on the NBL debut of Baynes for the Bullets and he battled hard for 11 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes, but it was Walker who top-scored fresh off his NBL1 West MVP season with 16 points on hitting 4/9 from downtown.

Johnson had 13 points but 10 of those were in the first quarter with Froling putting up 11 points and five rebounds, and Krebs nine points and six boards.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Krebs fires up with two quick 3’s to open up scoring in NBL23 ??<br><br>Watch live on <a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAu</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIVERCITYSTRONG?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIVERCITYSTRONG</a> <a href="https://t.co/K9AKk5uo9G">pic.twitter.com/K9AKk5uo9G</a></p>&mdash; Brisbane Bullets (@BrisbaneBullets) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets/status/1576444157979426816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Bullets coach James Duncan felt the struggles started and ended with their turnovers.

"It started with the turnovers. It's very difficult to guard against turnovers and you are basically giving the ball to them and they are going down the court, and laying the ball up," Duncan said.

"We had 24 of them and they scored 31 points of their 87 points from those so that tells the story right there."

Krebs had a confidence-boosting NBL1 North season at Gold Coast and then NBL Blitz with the Bullets, and brought that into the game on Sunday by hitting the first two three-pointers of the game.

Tyler Johnson then hit another for Brisbane and they led 9-2 to quieten the Red Army early. Another bucket to Johnson and dunk from DJ Mitchell soon made it 15-4, but the Wildcats had Bryce Cotton.

He went on to score 10 points in the opening quarter and with new import TaShawn Thomas adding six points and Corey Webster hitting a couple of jumpers, the 'Cats withstood the 10 points from Johnson to tie scores up at 22-22.

It was then all Perth in the second period. Brisbane racked up 12 turnovers for the half while going to the foul line just three times, while the Wildcats conceded just three turnovers and took 11 foul shots.

Then with Johnson not even taking a shot in the second period for Brisbane, Perth pulled away starting with three-pointers from Todd Blanchfield and Cotton. Another 8-0 run saw the 'Cats score 16 of the first 18 points of the quarter.

Brisbane's lone score was the first NBL basket from Aron Baynes, but the Wildcats cruised to the 48-35 half-time lead on the back of 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals from Cotton.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Braided Bryce™?<br><br>At this stage, we&#39;re willing to confirm that all versions of Bryce Cotton are indeed nice with it.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live + free on 10 Peach and Kayo Freebies <a href="https://t.co/HKi4bFPfi3">pic.twitter.com/HKi4bFPfi3</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1576446102039310336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Baynes came out ready to spark the Bullets to open the second half and scored seven of his team's first nine points to close the gap to eight, but every time Brisbane would threaten to get back into the contest, the Wildcats had all the answers.

Captain Wagstaff knocked down a couple of three-pointers with Cotton, Blanchfield and Manek all hitting from beyond the arc to keep the 'Cats up 11 at three quarter-time.

The problem for the Bullets continued to be that despite a couple of threes from Walker and another to Nathan Sobey in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats responded with triples of their own to Manek, Wagstaff and Webster to stay up by double-digits.

Cotton then confirmed the Perth win by stealing the ball off good friend Walker, going down for a layup and his team won by 14.

Both teams will be next in action on Saturday with the Wildcats remaining at home to host the Illawarra Hawks while the Bullets stay on the road against the Sydney Kings.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 1

PERTH WILDCATS 87 (Cotton 23, Wagstaff 14, Thomas 12)
BRISBANE BULLETS 73 (Walker 16, Johnson 13, Froling 11, Baynes 11) 

BOX SCORE