Pinder shines as Wildcats blow away Sixers

Michael Harris top-scored, Keanu Pinder stood out and Ben Henshall shone as the Perth Wildcats blew away the Adelaide 36ers early at the NBL Blitz on Tuesday night on the way to the 112-80 victory.

The arch-rivals were both playing their second games this week at the Blitz on the Gold Coast with the ‘Cats coming off a win against the Cairns Taipans while the Sixers were looking to bounce back from a first up loss to the New Zealand Breakers.

It was a remarkable start to the game from the Wildcats and it was all about turning up the heat on the 36ers to pressure them into mistakes, and then making them pay.

Perth forced Adelaide into five turnovers in the first four minutes and on the back of that, Jordan Usher and Bryce Cotton hit early threes, Tai Webster scored going to the rack for an 8-0 start and CJ Bruton need a timeout after just 70 seconds.

It didn’t help and Jesse Wagstaff hit a triple for the ‘Cats out of the timeout before Bruton had to go for mass substitutions after another horror turnover.

Eventually Isaac Humphries opened Adelaide’s scoring but his former Sixers teammate Keanu Pinder scored up the other end for Perth and his three-point play made it 14-2.

Tai Webster hit a three ball to make it 17-2, Pinder flushed a dunk after yet another Adelaide turnover for 19-2. Pinder wasn’t done and he hit the next four points to stretch it to 23-2.

Eventually the Wildcats were leading 37-11 by the end of one with Pinder’s 11 points leading the charge as they shot 73 per cent as a team, hit 4/7 from downtown, and went 11/12 from the foul line with 16 points off the nine turnovers from the 36ers.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ben Henshall was cooking tonight ?‍?<br><br>The <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PerthWildcats</a> young star flashed his two-way potential ?<br><br>Henshall finished with 17 points, three assists and three steals ? <a href="https://t.co/pkxGGztkT8">pic.twitter.com/pkxGGztkT8</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1704095995620200541?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It was as emphatic of a first quarter possible and while the result was never in doubt the rest of the way, at least the 36ers were able to stem the damage and get some flow into their game at times.

That included the Sixers adding 28 points to 26 in the second quarter before Perth ended up cruising to the 32-point win with so much to like from what John Rillie’s men again did.

Development player Michael Harris top-scored for Perth after playing in the NZ NBL at the Otago Nuggets this off-season. He finished with 18 points and six rebounds with 3/7 three-point shooting.

The signs from Keanu Pinder were especially exciting as he produced his best outing in Wildcats colours with 17 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals with young gun Ben Henshall adding 17 points, four boards, three assists and two steals.

Bryce Cotton had 12 points, four rebounds and three assists in just 20 minutes while Jordan Usher had 11 points, two boards and two steals, Tai Webster nine points, and Next Star Alex Sarr another exciting eight points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two assists.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Trentyn Flowers drops the hammer ??<br><br>The <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@adelaide36ers</a> Next Star takes it the length of the court and throws it down ?<br><br>Watch every game live &amp; free via Kayo Freebies ?<br><br>Outside Australia? Watch via ?? <a href="https://t.co/8LoWsbR7E4">https://t.co/8LoWsbR7E4</a> <a href="https://t.co/31JUT3xAq1">pic.twitter.com/31JUT3xAq1</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1704084493307392386?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Jamaal Franklin put up 15 points with 4/7 three-point shooting for Adelaide while Jason Cadee had 15 points and four assists in the city he won an MVP with this off-season in the NBL1 North at the Gold Coast Rollers.

Isaac Humphries showed good signs again with 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks.

While Next Star Trentyn Flowers again found the going tough with four turnovers and 4/13 shooting, he had a couple of highlights with nice dunks and passes with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists.

The Wildcats will look to remain perfect to be a chance of winning the Loggins-Bruton Cup when finishing their campaign against the New Zealand Breakers on Thursday. 

That comes after the 36ers are just looking to find some positives when playing the Tasmania JackJumpers in the first game on Thursday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL BLITZ

PERTH WILDCATS 112 (M Harris 18, Henshall 17, Pinder 17)
ADELAIDE 36ERS 80 (Cadee 15, Franklin 15, Humphries 14) 

BOX SCORE