High Octane Wildcats Knock off Kings Out West

Gritty, back and forth, winner takes all. Welcome to the Jungle! The Perth Wildcats were aware of the test they faced when they hosted the Sydney Kings at RAC Arena on Friday night in front of the Red Army. 

Tilting for their fourth straight in front of the faithful home crowd the Wildcats sat fifth on the ladder while the Kings sat atop the ladder ruling over the league. 

The 'Cats had begun rediscovering the form they are known for having won seven of their last 10 games and were steaming home for a top four finish.

The Wildcats took the win 111-104 after leading at the end of the first quarter and at half-time but the Kings outfit we know and love hit the court from the third and with it led at the end of the third stanza but it was too late for the Sydney side. 

The Wildcats got it started from the first tip and TaShawn Thomas took first points letting his leadership show in the first quarter leading his side to a six-point lead at the first break, 26-20.

The Kings have stood as a benchmark of consistency over the past few seasons and their road form continues to show they have no fear of any opponent or venue.

The Kings had won their past six and since that last win over the Wildcats they travelled to Brisbane thumping the Bullets by 49 points before hosting the cellar dwelling Hawks and sending them home with a five-point loss.

At half-time the Wildcats held their lead by six points (54-48) off the back of efforts from captain Jesse Wagstaff sinking two deep threes for the quarter along with Brady Manek contributing eight points. Like a sniper, Manek took 21 points and again shot impressively from deep at a 55 per cent clip.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shawn Redhage&#39;s name has been immortalised forever in the rafters of RAC Arena, as his jersey is officially retired by the <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PerthWildcats</a>.<br><br>A huge congratulations goes out to Shawn and the Redhage family ? <a href="https://t.co/ENOpgXyA9k">pic.twitter.com/ENOpgXyA9k</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1616424685075574784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Sydney side are led by Xavier Cooks who is a leading MVP candidate. Cooks turns it on every time he steps out with seven double doubles in his individual stats for the season and leading the purple wearing pack around the hard wood.

Returning for the third quarter the firm of Cooks and DJ Vasiljevic were at it again bringing their team back to hit the lead and show they were not to be written off so easily. 

Three quick deep shots landing from Vasiljevic along with four points and three assists from Cooks quickly eliminated the deficit.  

The Kings would go into the final quarter leading 80-76 having turned the tables and gotten down to business once again.

The insanely talented Kings bench of Jordan Hunter, Angus Glover, Shaun Bruce, Kouat Noi and Jaylin Galloway is on a whole other level and the potency they bring to the floor in their minutes packs contributions of a starting five. In the third quarter they clicked into gear as a unit contributing 27 points compared to the 21 from the Perth bench, mostly from Luke Travers (14).

The final quarter tipped off as the third quarter had finished with Glover shooting the three and it sinking. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">THREE TRIPLES JUST LIKE THAT.<br><br>The roof is about to fly off at RAC Arena! ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/TyKb5ukBWS">pic.twitter.com/TyKb5ukBWS</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1616407449044660224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

If Bryce Cotton is in the contest that contest is on and the fact he leads the points per game in the league (23.6ppg) only further argues his star quality. 

However, he brings the ability to feed the ball and gets it to where it needs to be to pull off the shot with 11 assists for the night to go with his 21 points in a player of the game effort.

He would return serve for the Wildcats with a successful deep shot of his own before heading to the charity stripe making it a four point play. 

Manek on the next play with his fifth three pointer taking the lead back before the ball was fed to Cotton for a little step back two making it a massive couple of minutes for the home side. 

Just as you thought the run couldn’t get any hotter the returning Travers stepped back shooting deep as the crowd erupted before the timeout.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DJ is making his mark on this quarter ?<br><br>Eight points outta nowhere! Let him cook ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/LFihX3uO0X">pic.twitter.com/LFihX3uO0X</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1616402125285908480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Kings now trailed by seven with seven minutes of play remaining – the question stood who would handle the pressure.

What followed for the remaining minutes was a real shootout between these squads. 

Another three from Cotton, another from Vasiljevic, fouls traded, blows dealt, another three from Vasiljevic with a minute remaining made it a single possession game. Manek smashed it down for another two points before the clock ran down and Cotton threw the ball knowing they had won, Manek would finish it off with a two pointer. 

In the end it was the home side who came out victorious and they will take that as a shot of confidence as they move into the final rounds and the playoffs.

Wildcats coach John Rillie continues to like the way his group is coming together.

"We’ve had some good wins and that was a good win. But sometimes you tend to relax when you are feeling good about yourselves. But we have to reload and be ready for Sunday," Rillie said.

"The team that wins the championship is the one who keeps up the tempo. I think during those parts of the game we were lax and we need to get those parts out of our game.

"When we play with a good pace and get into the paint we are a great team. A lot of people have been on us about shortening the bench. Guys like Jesse and Trav bring a lot to the bench and the team."

Kings coach Chase Buford pointed to his team's defence as being behind their first loss in seven games.

"Credit to Perth they shot it well. They shot the piss out of it. Proud of the guys but it wasn’t a well played game by us defensively – we didn’t defend very well at all," Buford said.
 
"We had our chances, missed layups, turned it over. Probably good for us to go through a game like that. Learn a lot and come back here in a few weeks and now we just focus on Sunday." 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brady Manek shot the lights out last week... and he&#39;s keen to do it again tonight ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/95WQXFqN6t">pic.twitter.com/95WQXFqN6t</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1616385713427353600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Wildcats will now take on the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Melbourne on Sunday while the Kings host the Breakers on Sunday as well.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 16

PERTH WILDCATS 111 (Cotton 21, Manek 21, Thomas 20)

SYDNEY KINGS 104 (Vasiljevic 26, Cooks 15, Glover 14) 

BOX SCORE