FANS of the National Basketball League (NBL) were treated to some weekday action in Round 13, with two matches taking place at the start of the week. The first being the clash between the Tasmania JackJumpers and the Perth Wildcats at MyState Bank Arena on Monday night. As they do for most clashes, the Wildcats entered this match as the favoured side, but the result was no certainty. A few weeks ago, the JackJumpers were the form side of the competition a few weeks ago, and have shown the ability to hurt opponents from behind the arc. Despite this, the Wildcats were still too classy for the majority of the contest, and despite the JackJumpers getting off to a hot start, Perth was able to claim an 11-point road win.

The JackJumpers grabbed the lead early in the contest, thanks to their red-hot shooting from three-point territory, which has served them extremely well in the past few matches. The Wildcats found themselves trailing by six points at the first break, with a bit to do moving forward. As all the good sides do, the Wildcats managed to claw themselves back into the game, and took the lead at the midway point of the second quarter. From here, they managed to overpower Tasmania, and storm home to their ninth win of the season.

Team Stats

The Wildcats had success in a number of statistical areas, all of which contributed to the result of the match. One of the major reasons for the win was their efficiency when shooting the basketball. They were more accurate from the field than the JackJumpers and this was reflected on the scoreboard by the time the match was over. Their biggest success came from inside the arc, where they clearly outperformed their opponents by making more than half of their shots from two-point territory.

Another category in which Perth gained ascendancy was in the rebounding battle, and not by a slim margin either. The Wildcats pulled down 19 more boards than Tasmania, and this resulted in more scoring opportunities from the field. The biggest contributor to this feat was Victor Law, who was simply terrific on his way to double-digit figures in this column, pulling down 13 boards on his own.

Top Points Scorers:

As expected, Cotton led the way for the Wildcats as he has done so many times in the past. After a scoreless first half earlier in the round against the Phoenix, Cotton bounced back to be a four-quarter contributor in this match, with a game-high 20 points (including four buckets from behind the arc), while also dishing out five dimes. Law recorded a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds in a commanding outing. He was excellent in the first half, and was able to back it up with an even better second half performance. Travers delivered one of the best performances of his short career with 16 points off the bench.