Cotton inspires 'Cats to FNQ win

Bryce Cotton torched the Cairns Taipans for 35 points as the four-time NBL MVP got the Perth Wildcats back to winning form with the 90-87 Thursday night road victory.

The Wildcats arrived in Far North Queensland on a three-game losing run, but Cotton wasn’t going to let them lose again as he put up 35 points and shot 7/10 from three-point land even with a late scare from Cairns and Rob Edwards.

The two teams came into the match up at Cairns Convention Centre in complete opposite form with the Taipans fresh off beating Melbourne and Tasmania last weekend while the 'Cats lost to both teams in the same round.

Both were then missing a star for the Thursday night match up with Cairns without Taran Armstrong with an ankle injury and the Wildcats without explosive big man Keanu Pinder through concussion.

Cotton was coming off a tough weekend, but hit three long-range bombs in the opening quarter on his way to 14 first half points.

With Kristian Doolittle adding 13 points and seven rebounds, the Wildcats went into half-time leading 48-41 on the back of 51 per cent shooting opposed to the Taipans who were going at 38 despite four threes and 12 points to Jonah Antonio.

Cotton was only just warming up, though, and he put up 14 more points in the third quarter with the Wildcats doing enough to hold on and win by three to snap their losing run.

On top of what Cotton produced, Kristian Doolittle was every bit as important in the win for Perth stepping up in the absence of Pinder even more with 19 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.

Dylan Windler also returned with 13 points, three rebounds and three steals.

Wildcats coach John Rillie liked the step forward his team took.

"We're a pretty confident bunch of guys, we just haven't been playing well but tonight it was great to be in a situation where we could control our own destiny," he said.

"To hold on and now have a nine-day break gives us a chance to work on some things since we have some of our roster members back."

The absence of Armstrong was sorely felt by the Taipans despite another 24 points and seven rebounds from star scoring import Rob Edwards.

Sam Waardenburg added 14 points, seven assists and five rebounds, Pedro Bradshaw 12 points and eight boards, and Antonio 12 points but none in the second half.

It was a frustrated Taipans coach Adam Forde afterwards.

"We made a lot of errors and it was off the back of errors on scout, on personnel, on execution on offence," he said.

"What's crazy to think is that we had a chance to take that into OT… but the reality is we probably had no business winning this game."

The Snakes had Kyle Adnam back as starting point guard in the absence of Taran Armstrong while Perth went with 479-game captain Jesse Wagstaff to replace Keanu Pinder, and the visitors soon found their offensive groove.

Bryce Cotton had three triples in just over the first six minutes with the 'Cats out to a double-figure lead, but the Snakes pulled that back to just a six-point deficit by the end of one.

The Wildcats were back out to an 11-point lead in the second quarter before a couple more three balls for Cairns to Jonah Antonio, who made four in the first half.

However, a late triple from Dylan Windler saw Perth go into the half-time break leading 48-41 despite giving up three offensive rebounds on the final possession with Cairns still unable to take advantage.

Both teams had their turn with the momentum in the third quarter but by three quarter-time Cotton had added another 14 points in the period to help the Wildcats to the eight-point lead.

Cairns weren’t going away and managed eight of the first 10 points of the final period but Cotton answered with his seventh triple of the night for Perth.

Wagstaff then dropped a three to keep the Wildcats up six and the visitors would go on to win by three and snap their three-game losing run even though Edwards had a shot on the buzzer for Cairns to force overtime.

The Taipans now head to Sydney to take on the Kings on Sunday while the Wildcats don't play again until being away to the returning New Zealand Breakers next Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

CAIRNS TAIPANS 87 (Edwards 24, Waardenburg 14, Antonio 12, Bradshaw 12)

PERTH WILDCATS 90 (Cotton 35, Doolittle 19, Windler 13)

BOX SCORE