Humphries fires as 36ers overpower Wildcats

An imposing performance by big man Isaac Humphries and improved energy and effort has seen the Adelaide 36ers move off the bottom of the NBL ladder with an 89-78 home victory against the Perth Wildcats.

By the end of the night, Adelaide had 11 more rebounds than Perth, 54 points in the paint to 32 and all the areas they lamented after Thursday's loss to South East Melbourne were improved.

Humphries put up 26 points, eight rebounds and three steals on 12-of-17 shooting with the former NBA centre the most influential man on the court.

Isaac can't be stopped ? The @adelaide36ers center has scored a game-high 18 points. Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo ? pic.twitter.com/7cip3ysvFS

— NBL (@NBL) October 21, 2023

It improved the Sixers to 2-5 with Kyrin Galloway coming up huge too for 16 points and seven rebounds with 3-of-5 three-point shooting. New signing DJ Vasiljevic added 15 points, Jacob Wiley 10 (eight rebounds, four assists) and Trey Kell III nine (seven boards, three assists).

Adelaide coach CJ Bruton knew his team had to respond after Thursday's loss to the Phoenix.

"This was like a grand final, you want to stay in the hunt and don't want to let games get away," Bruton said.

"We shortened our rotations (only used eight players) and I thought everyone who touched the floor all made an impact.

"I'm excited for the players and the club, and everyone did their best to play the brand of basketball that I visioned. The effort was there for 40 minutes."

Perth have now lost three straight at 2-4 despite the 17 points, 13 rebounds and five assists from Keanu Pinder along with 14 points from Corey Webster and 12 from younger brother Tai.

Despite a strong individual performance, it was frustration for Pinder afterwards back where he started his NBL career.

"I'm pretty frustrated," he said.

"Obviously things didn’t go our way tonight but I'm just frustrated on the little mistakes that we made.

"I honestly don't think I'm playing my best basketball right now either and have a long way to go to gel with this team, but that's just something that happens over time."

Superstar Bryce Cotton struggled for 11 points on 2-of-15 shooting with the Wildcats unable to win in the 450th game of six-time championship winning captain Jesse Wagstaff.

Both old rivals were desperate for a win and the home team raced to an 11-2 start with Humphries imposing himself inside and Vasiljevic dropping two threes. Adelaide was still up six midway through the second period, but then had another trademark rough patch.

The 'Cats went on a 13-2 run to lead 40-39 at the half despite being outrebounded by nine and the 15 points and five rebounds from Humphries.

Cotton had just three points on 1-of-7 shooting, but hit an early three in the second half and the Wildcats remained narrowly leading thanks to a pair of triples from Tai Webster.

Adelaide was able to stick with them, though, and it was a two-point lead for the 36ers at three quarter-time before scoring the first six points of the final period to set up the eventual 11-point win.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 4

ADELAIDE 36ERS 89 (Humphries 26, Galloway 16, Vasilijevic 15)

PERTH WILDCATS 78 (Pinder 17, C Webster 14, T Webster 12)

BOX SCORE