Wildcats Finish Strong Over Hawks

Sunday, October 9, 2022

It was a night for the support cast to step up but Bryce Cotton delivered when it mattered for the Perth Wildcats to pull one out of the fire at RAC Arena to beat the Illawarra Hawks 77-71.

The Hawks led the contest on Saturday night for most of the evening including by as much as 11 points and again by five with four minutes to play, but the 'Cats refused to lie down.

Despite a relatively quiet night, Cotton nailed a three-pointer, stole the ball off Lachie Dent and nailed clutch free-throws to help Perth go on a 14-3 run to close the game.

That included massive three balls from Corey Webster and Luke Travers with the Wildcats winning by six to remain undefeated under the coaching of John Rillie.

While superstars Cotton (13 points, 4/14 shooting) and Tyler Harvey (five points, 2/11) had quiet nights, their supporting casts stepped up in what was an entertaining dog fight in front of 10,816 fans.

Perth might have struggled shooting at 37 per cent from the floor and 25 per cent from deep opposed to the 44 and 32 from the Hawks, but got to the foul line 25 times to seven for the night despite also losing the rebound count again by 10.

Travers delivered 14 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals in a terrific all-round game with Mitch Norton finishing with 14 points and three assists.

Jesse Wagstaff (10 points, two assists) and Brady Manek (nine points, seven boards) had to play increased minutes with an early ankle injury to TaShawn Thomas.

Wildcats coach John Rillie was especially happy with his team's defensive performance in the second half.

"I won't say I feel like we pinched one because we're playing at home and we're a good team, but the Hawks really showed they are a great opponent," Rillie said.

"We knew what we were up against and the pleasing thing was we held them to 22 in the second half even though we couldn’t really get any momentum. But our defence allowed us to find a way at the end of the day."

The Hawks have lost import guard Justin Robinson, but fellow import George King hit the floor early with three rapid-fire bombs and went on to finish with 25 points for the game with 5/8 shooting from downtown.

Sam Froling had his moments inside too for 14 points and eight rebounds with Dent adding 11 points.

Hawks coach Jacob Jackomas is sure that once the disappointment is shaken off, they will take plenty from the performance.

"It's definitely a missed opportunity, we lost. It is a missed opportunity in this minute, but when we get back home and start to evaluate it, we'll take this opportunity and make it into a positive to make sure we get better," Jackomas said.

"Once we get our whole team together and on the floor, looking at that performance that's what would help us close that game out. We had to win tonight and we didn’t, and that's on us and it starts with me. It starts with my decisions down the stretch and the only one I can really blame right now is myself."

Mitch Norton gave Perth a good start with the first four points against his old team with the Hawks struggling to find a scoring option in the opening minutes – until George King hit the floor.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">3-POINT KING ?<a href="https://twitter.com/2bkings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@2bkings</a> has come out firing in the Jungle<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN + Kayo Sports <a href="https://t.co/QecVxd8DM7">pic.twitter.com/QecVxd8DM7</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1578676992743915520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He knocked down three three-point bombs in the matter of a minute and that got Illawarra going. Lachie Dent then joined in the fun and hit two of his own from downtown, and by quarter-time the visitors were on top 25-23.

The Hawks continued to shoot well and opened up a double-figure advantage just before half-time while going into the break shooting 57 per cent as a team and hitting 6/10 from deep.

The Hawks also did well to limit Bryce Cotton to six points on 2/6 shooting with he and Tyler Harvey cancelling one another out.

Harvey had just five points on 2/6 but he had plenty of help including King and Dent hitting five threes for a combined 25 points with the Hawks up 49-41 at the break.

The scoring dried up significantly in the third quarter but the 'Cats did work back into the contest and were back within two after a dunk from Luke Travers over the top of King.

The Hawks sharpshooter responded with his fourth three of the game to keep Illawarra on top by five at three quarter-time.

Corey Webster knocked down a three ball to bring Perth back level early in the fourth before free-throws from Norton put the home team in front for the first time since early in the second period.

Brady Manek then finished inside to stretch the lead with Jacob Jackomas forced to call for time after eight straight Wildcats points. The Hawks steadied out of the timeout to go on a 9-1 run to reclaim a five-point lead, but then Cotton kept Perth close with a three-pointer.

Travers then hit a three of his own and then made two free-throws before Cotton stripped Dent up one end leading to a Webster triple up the other for Perth to lead by six.

King's hot hand continued, though, to keep the Hawks within three but Cotton was to ice the Perth win with two free-throws.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Checks watch: it's about that time ?<br><br>Cotton O'Clock live on ESPN + Kayo Sports <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> <a href="https://t.co/V7tmhbMC1Q">pic.twitter.com/V7tmhbMC1Q</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1578697352915079169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Wildcats now jump on a plane to head to Far North Queensland for their first road game of NBL23 on Monday night against the undefeated Cairns Taipans.

The Hawks don't play again until next Saturday away to the Illawarra Hawks.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 2

PERTH WILDCATS 77 (Travers 14, Norton 14, Cotton 13)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 71 (King 25, Froling 14, Dent 11)

BOX SCORE