United Build Confidence With Win Over Wildcats

A breakout performance from David Okwera and spurred on by the return of Shea Ili has helped Melbourne United make it a double-win Round 5 with Monday night's home 94-77 victory against the Perth Wildcats.

While Melbourne snapped its three-game losing slide by beating Illawarra by double overtime on Saturday, they still needed to find some more fluidity and there was plenty of that at John Cain Arena on Melbourne Cup eve.

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The 'Cats arrived on their own three-game losing run but United was on top virtually the whole night and it was the return from concussion of point guard Ili that provided the spark. 

The 194-game veteran knocked down two early threes and three for the night for nine points, four assists and three rebounds to add that bite to the back court. 

He was delighted himself to return after having to sit out the NBL Blitz and then the opening seven games of the season.

"It was an awesome feeling. I definitely felt like I could have helped the boys out for the first part of the season. It was just good to get out there and finally help where I can," Ili said.

"The medical staff made sure I was symptom free before I stepped back out on the court so shout out to them for getting me back."

Alongside him, import duo Xavier Rathan-Mayes (25 points, 10 rebounds, five steals, three assists) and Rayjon Tucker (16 points, eight rebounds, three assists) were outstanding. 

Then there was 20-year-old Okwera who enjoyed his second career start in the absence of Jordan Caroline. His five points, four assists and three blocks only partly go to show the impact he had.

It was the type of performance to build confidence for United as they went at 56 per cent from the field with Chris Goulding adding 13 points, Isaac Humphries 10 and Makuach Maluach nine.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The speed ?? to the hammer ?? to the flex ?<br><br>Gee, <a href="https://twitter.com/th3flighttuck?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@th3flighttuck</a> knows how to put on a show ?‍??<br><br>Catch the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> action live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + ESPN ? <a href="https://t.co/Tgw5GzPGGF">pic.twitter.com/Tgw5GzPGGF</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1587009689950134272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It was another tough night for a Wildcats team now having lost four straight despite a solid outing from superstar Bryce Cotton with 19 points and three assists.

TaShawn Thomas continues to build with another 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Todd Blanchfield scored 13 points and Mitch Norton 11 to go with three rebounds and three assists.

'Cats coach John Rillie felt all his team's troubles are starting at the defensive end right now.

"Giving up 50 points in the first half means we couldn’t generate anything off our defence, and when that happens offence can become a struggle for any team," Rillie said.

"When you want to start comparing when we win a game and lose a game, our activity on defence and disruption is a big difference-maker.

"We have great patches like the way we came out in the third quarter motivated and connected, and we were very disruptive. We need to evolve and have greater stretches of that and our offence is generated from our defence, and we haven’t been able to do that over the last couple of games."

Bryce Cotton and Mitch Norton completed early three-point plays for Perth, but then Shea Ili welcomed himself into NBL23 by draining consecutive three-pointers to give Melbourne the advantage.

While the 'Cats got 10 points from Cotton in the opening quarter, Melbourne went into quarter-time leading 26-24 on the back of shooting 64 per cent from the field and with a late 5-0 run including a dunk from rookie Makuach Maluach.

Lachie Barker then drained one from deep to open the second quarter for United and when Rayjon Tucker scored seven straight points himself including a slam and three-point play, the home team's lead was out to double-figures.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The speed ?? to the hammer ?? to the flex ?<br><br>Gee, <a href="https://twitter.com/th3flighttuck?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@th3flighttuck</a> knows how to put on a show ?‍??<br><br>Catch the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> action live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + ESPN ? <a href="https://t.co/Tgw5GzPGGF">pic.twitter.com/Tgw5GzPGGF</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1587009689950134272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Another Cotton three ball took him to 15 points for the half to keep Perth in touch, but the rest of his team went 0/10 from beyond the arc for the half. Up the other end, Melbourne went 5/11 from deep and 63 per cent overall with Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Tucker combining for 20 points in the 50-40 lead.

Todd Blanchfield opened up the third quarter with the first eight points to shoot Perth back into the contest, but Melbourne responded. It started with a couple of buckets from Isaac Humphries and then four points from David Okwera on his best career night.

Rathan-Mayes continued to light it up with nine of Melbourne's next 12 points to close out the quarter. Okwera blocked Cotton at the rim on the buzzer to see United go into three quarter-time leading 69-58.

Ili's third triple of his return night steadied Melbourne to a 12-point lead in the fourth, but Perth weren't going away. A knockdown three ball from Brady Manek and then bucket from Cotton had them back within seven with six minutes to play.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">David Okwera is having a block party tonight, and all the <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PerthWildcats</a> are invited ???<br><br>Catch the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> action live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + ESPN ? <a href="https://t.co/1SEqeLhUZJ">pic.twitter.com/1SEqeLhUZJ</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1587021063447228417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Chris Goulding responded with the next five points for Melbourne before Tucker drained one from deep and the lead was out to a game-high 15 points with four minutes on the clock before it turned into a statement 17-point victory for United.

The Wildcats have a short turnaround to host the Tasmania JackJumpers at RAC Arena on Thursday while United take on the Cairns Taipans in Far North Queensland on Friday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 5

MELBOURNE UNITED 94 (Rathan-Mayes 25, Tucker 16, Goulding 13)

PERTH WILDCATS 77 (Cotton 19, Blanchfield 13, Thomas 13)

BOX SCORE