Phoenix Win Thriller in Perth to Keep Building

The South East Melbourne Phoenix withstood nine three-pointers from Bryce Cotton and Luke Travers to continue their hot NBL23 form by going into RAC Arena and leaving with the 91-90 victory over the Perth Wildcats.

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The Wildcats were back home on the back of a 31-point loss to the Tasmania JackJumpers six days prior but found the going tough early with Mitch Creek delivering 13 first quarter points with the Phoenix up 12 in the second period.

However, Cotton took over in spectacular fashion with the three-time MVP scoring 14 of Perth's 33 points for the quarter to have 20 for the half.

The 'Cats led by six early in the fourth with Travers nailing his third triple in front of 11,103 fans at The Jungle, but the Phoenix responded and soon had their own four-point lead with a couple minutes to play.

Cotton drained his sixth three to keep the 'Cats in touch and then Corey Webster and Gary Browne traded buckets. Cotton made two free-throws with 30 seconds to play, Creek responded in kind and then Todd Blanchfield missed a good look at the winner from three.

The Phoenix have now won three in-a-row on the back of shooting 50 per cent from the field and winning the rebound count by four.

Creek ended the night with 22 points and six rebounds with Ryan Broekhoff hitting 4/6 from downtown for 18 points.

Alan Williams was a powerful force down low for 12 points and seven rebounds with Trey Kell adding 11 points and Browne 10 to go with eight assists.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell was delighted to leave Perth for the third straight occasion with a win.

"I didn’t mind our first quarter, I was really disappointed in our second quarter and we saw last year how the pressure can build on Perth when the teams are on the ropes here," Mitchell said.

"We knew there was a bit to play for and we knew that historically Perth kills you with the offensive rebounds, and we gave them those in the second quarter. 

"That hung in my brain for a lot of the game and I was disappointed with that, but offensively I thought we were pretty good as long as the ball was shifting. Overall though, any time you come in here and get a win you are thrilled."

Cotton finished with 27 points and eight assists on 6/11 three-point shooting with Travers going 3/6 for 19 points for the 'Cats. TaShawn Thomas played his best game for 14 points, six rebounds and five assists.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BRYCE COTTON THROWS DOWN THE JAM ?<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 and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/p1o9EcQZME">pic.twitter.com/p1o9EcQZME</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1585952381560242176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Wildcats coach John Rillie is still looking for his team to find a full 40 minutes of basketball.

"That was a good basketball game and a game you expect to have if you have aspirations of playoffs and better. They're a good, talented team who really brought it tonight," Rillie said.

"We had moments where we were really good like our last game when we got the lead in the fourth quarter and had good momentum with the crowd. We just didn’t quite execute down the stretch, but it doesn’t come down to those last few plays. 

"It comes down to how well we did in the first quarter and we had a great second quarter holding them to 18 points. It carries over for 40 minutes and until we find that consistency for 40 we'll ebb and flow with the results."

Coming back to the venue where they ended Perth's playoff streak to close last season, the Phoenix again started impressively hitting six of their first eight field goals to open up a 13-6 advantage.

Bryce Cotton responded with a couple of threes for Perth, but his teammates only went 3/12 for the first quarter and with the Phoenix shooting at 61 per cent, they opened up a 27-18 lead after one.

Mitch Creek had 13 of those including a buzzer-beating triple as he looked to match the first quarter heroics of his former Adelaide teammate Nathan Sobey from Thursday.

The Phoenix threatened to break it wide open to start the second quarter with five straight Trey Kell points putting the visitors up 12, but the Wildcats still had Cotton. He would go on to hit three more triples for the quarter including one on the half-time buzzer.

He also dished out a dazzling pass for a Luke Travers dunk and throwing down an eye-catching dunk running down the middle and catching the perfect bounce pass from TaShawn Thomas.

He had 20 points to half-time and the Wildcats had piled in 33 points in the second quarter to turn that 12-point deficit into a 51-45 lead.

Cotton turned facilitator early in the second half and found some nice looks inside for Thomas to return the favour as Perth's lead got out to nine. But the Phoenix responded with triples to Gary Browne and Ryan Broekhoff forcing John Rillie into a timeout.

It did steady the Wildcats who were soon back up seven after triples from Travers and Corey Webster. Broekhoff did nail his third of the quarter from deep to keep South East Melbourne close, but another triple from Travers on the buzzer and the 'Cats were up 74-69 at three quarter-time.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">His 4??th of the night ? Ryan Broekhoff is feelin&#39; it ?<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 and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/08rdyJz2zM">pic.twitter.com/08rdyJz2zM</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1585962302867546113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Travers hit another early in the fourth quarter but six straight Phoenix points tied scores back up and with seven minutes to go, the visitors were already in the bonus.

Creek knocked down a huge three to give the Phoenix the lead with six minutes to play. It then became basket for basket for the next few minutes.

In the end, with the Phoenix up one with 15 seconds to play after the free-throws from Creek, Cotton ran down the clock, drove into the packed paint and the ball ended up in the hands of Todd Blanchfield.

His good look didn’t fall and South East Melbourne made it three straight while condemning Perth to a third consecutive loss.

Both teams back up again in Round 5 as well with the Phoenix returning home to host the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday. The Wildcats also head to Melbourne to face United on Monday night.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 5

PERTH WILDCATS 90 (Cotton 27, Travers 19, Thomas 14)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 91 (Creek 22, Broekhoff 18, Williams 12)

BOX SCORE