Sobey Sparks Brave Bullets Over 'Cats in OT

Despite everything working against them, Nathan Sobey just wasn’t going to let the Brisbane Bullets keep losing and he inspired them to a 106-95 overtime win against the Perth Wildcats at Nissan Arena.

The Bullets not only have had to deal with a coaching change in the last week but were again without Aron Baynes, Kody Stattmann and Ty Harrison on Thursday night against a Wildcats team equally desperate for a win.

It was a rollercoaster ride all evening but a couple of times through the fourth quarter the Bullets appeared to have the game won, but the Wildcats had Bryce Cotton.

Then it was Luke Travers who helped the game to overtime with a dunk and Sobey wasn’t able to find a bucket to end regulation.

He soon made up for that and his dagger three with a minute to go in overtime pushed Brisbane out to a nine-point lead and they went on to win by 11 to give Sam Mackinnon his first victory as coach.

It's Brisbane's fourth win of the season and first since the departure of James Duncan with plenty of positives to take from the gutsy showing.

As impressive as the signs were from the Bullets, the Wildcats not being able to get the job done against a team in the turmoil Brisbane has been in isn’t a good sign. Again, Perth were outrebounded by 12 and gave up another 54 points in the paint.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Bullets are getting fancy ?<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/CvzU8AUD5M">pic.twitter.com/CvzU8AUD5M</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1598240075187306497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sobey was inspirational for the Bullets with 28 points, four rebounds and three assists while playing over 41 minutes.

Tyler Johnson added 18 points, five rebounds and three assists, Jason Cadee 15 points, eight boards and eight assists, and DJ Mitchell 10 points and five rebounds.

Tanner Krebs also had 18 points on 7/10 shooting before rolling an ankle.

Cotton delivered 30 points for Perth to go with five rebounds and three assists with shooting 4/9 from deep and 10/13 at the foul line.

Brady Manek put up 17 points and seven rebounds 5/8 shooting from downtown while TaShawn Thomas contributed 13 points and Majok Majok eight to go with three rebounds, two assists and a block.

It was basket for basket early on until Nathan Sobey and Jason Cadee dropped three balls for the Bullets to give the home team the 12-6 edge. Perth immediately responded with back-to-back threes through Bryce Cotton and Brady Manek to level things up though.

It continued to be largely bucket for bucket with Brisbane leading 27-25 by quarter-time after a late score at either end through Rasmus Bach for the Bullets and Mitch Norton for the Wildcats.

The teams continued to trade the lead early in the second after three-pointers to Todd Blanchfield and Tyler Johnson before Manek drained a couple in-a-row for Perth to give the visitors a four-point edge.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NATHAN SOBEY DROPPED A BASELINE HAMMER ?<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/iMHTh2kgv9">pic.twitter.com/iMHTh2kgv9</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1598243703633559552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That became six when TaShawn Thomas scored inside but Brisbane hung around thanks to Sobey who was on his way to 12 points for the half.

However, a trademark Bryce Cotton three on the half-time buzzer took the three-time MVP to 12 points as well and the 'Cats went into the break leading 52-47.

The Bullets came out strong in the third quarter to quicky eradicate that five-point deficit. A couple of three balls to Krebs then put the home team out to their own five-point lead, and that was still the margin by three quarter-time.

DJ Mitchell connected from beyond the arc to put the Bullets out to a six-point edge to start the fourth. Cadee then pushed it out to eight and John Rillie had to talk things over.

It didn’t work. Harry Froling scored inside soon after the timeout to make it a 10-point ball game before the 'Cats did hit back with triples from Cotton and Michael Harris.

Despite Sobey pushing Brisbane back out to a seven-point lead, Perth kept coming and a couple of big stops, a Manek three, some free-throws and then a breakaway layup to Todd Blanchfield saw scores all back square with two minutes on the clock.

To top it off for Brisbane, Krebs landed awkwardly on his ankle and had to be helped from the floor.

From there, it was a dramatic last two minutes but ultimately a drive and dunk from Luke Travers tied scores up and caused overtime when Sobey's attempted three on the buzzer was no good for Brisbane.

It was then all the Bullets to start overtime with a bucket to Johnson and free-throws to Sobey and Froling before once more Cotton was fouled, but made just 1/3.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LUKE TRAVERS GOING UP ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> in OT live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/D79p5u13Ec">pic.twitter.com/D79p5u13Ec</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1598263194820042752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sobey then stretched the lead to six with two more at the stripe before the Bullets iced the win with a Sobey triple to the delight of the Nissan Arena crowd.

Both teams back up to play again this weekend with the Wildcats to face the league-leading New Zealand Breakers for the first time in NBL23 in Auckland on Saturday. The Bullets remain at home to host the Tasmania JackJumpers on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 9

BRISBANE BULLETS 106 (Sobey 28, Johnson 18, Krebs 18)

PERTH WILDCATS 95 (Cotton 30, Manek 17, Thomas 13) 

BOX SCORE