THE PERTH Wildcats entered Round 9 with a battle against a rolling SEM Phoenix side, but welcomed back star guard Bryce Cotton who wasted absolutely no time getting back into his rhythm dropping 33 points, five rebounds and four assists.

They overcame a relatively slow start by posting 40 second quarter points and didn’t look back, holding the Phoenix to just 36 points in the second half. Dylan Windler added 20 points of his own, missing just one of nine shots for the night.

Kristian Doolittle steadied the home team by stuffing the stat sheet with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists, while Next Star Izan Almansa came off the bench with nine points and nine rebounds. Despite returning to a bench role, Almansa still played more minutes than Keanu Pinder who struggled in this one. 

The main difference was at the free throw line, where the Wildcats made 25 of a whopping 30 attempts to South East Melbourne’s nine makes from 10 attempts. After the game Phoenix head coach Josh King criticised the officiating in his press conference, admitting his side wasn’t at their best and it wasn’t the reason they lost, but that he was shocked that Perth shot 12 free throws to their one in a quarter.

The Phoenix were led by import Matt Hurt, who is in red hot form, putting up 27 points and 10 rebounds while Next Star Malique Lewis continues to perform scoring 15 points and grabbing six rebounds. Derrick Walton Jr persists in a bench role since returning from injury and added seven points, four rebounds and three assists in his 17 minutes. The FIBA break will give him the chance to fully heal and return to the starting line-up for the second half of the year.

After the impressive victory at home on Friday night in Cotton’s return game, the Wildcats were set to face the struggling Brisbane Bullets to make it back-to-back wins in Round Nine. This wasn’t to be, however, as the Bullets, led by an all-time performance from James Batemon, put the Cats to the sword in the second and fourth quarters to win a blowout by 21 points. 

It’s the second time in three games that the Wildcats have allowed an opponent to humiliate them, after Chris Goulding caught fire for 46 points in Melbourne United’s Round Eight win. Head coach John Rillie’s side are searching for answers defensively now, having given up two of the four highest individual scoring games in the 40-minute NBL era in just eight days. Batemon’s 51-point outburst was the most points ever scored in that era. 

For Brisbane, despite their narrow defeat at the hands of Tasmania on Friday night, spirits will be lifted by this win, and it may spur them into a much more competitive second half of the season. They now climb within two wins of the Wildcats, having played three less games. If the Bullets, who face the Wildcats again in Round 10, can continue this momentum into back-to-back wins they will be set up for a charge towards the finals.

As for Perth, they head into the FIBA break without much momentum at all, after two disappointing performances in recent weeks. It may be that the break has come at the perfect time, giving Cotton a chance to get some extra layoff to ensure he is perfectly healthy going into the second half of the year, as well as a chance to reset from a coaching standpoint and sort some things out. 

Defensively, Perth has struggled for answers, but getting back to full strength could be an opportunity to have some meaningful training sessions during the hiatus and enter the latter stages of NBL25 with some more structured plans and strategies.

On the offensive side of the ball, the two-man game of Pinder and Cotton seemed to slip back into the gameplan smoothly and coupled with a nice mix of scoring guards in Ben Henshall, Elijah Pepper and Tai Webster, scoring the ball should be the Wildcats strength. 

Despite the loss to Brisbane there were some positive signs to take away. Pinder returned to his best after struggling against the Phoenix on Friday night, scoring 27 points and snatching three steals. Windler had another strong performance with nine points and 11 rebounds, while Almansa continues to impress, despite a move back to the bench, helping to anchor the Wildcats against the dangerous frontcourt duo of Tyrell Harrison and Josh Bannan. 

What certainly didn’t help the Wildcats was Doolittle succumbing to a knee injury after just seven minutes of action. He almost certainly would have been the answer to Batemon’s dominant display. The FIBA break will give Doolittle a chance to rest up ahead of an important stretch for the Red Army.