THE Perth Wildcats welcomed in the new year with a Round 15 victory over the New Zealand Breakers. New Zealand have continued to slide down the NBL25 table after sitting atop the ladder after seven rounds. 

The Breakers entered Sunday’s clash off the back of a win, but before that had lost eight consecutive games to fall from first to ninth.

They continue to deal with personnel issues as superstar guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright serves his five-game suspension for misconduct with a referee. Matt Mooney returned to form in Jackson-Cartwright’s absence, posting 28 points and six assists against Perth, while Tacko Fall had his best game as an NBL player with 28 points of his own to go with nine rebounds and four blocks.

Fall’s height was a huge factor on Sunday as he took advantage of the Jesse Wagstaff defensive assignment. Outside of those two, however, New Zealand were unable to generate much offence, with no other Breaker scoring more than eight points. Pre-game Fall stated that he “missed Parker (Jackson-Cartwright) and his dynamic scoring and playmaking ability”.

For the visiting side, Bryce Cotton dropped 41 points in yet another MVP-caliber performance. He was able to carry the Wildcats’ offence throughout the match, while dishing out five assists as well. Cotton’s main running mate for the game was young gun Ben Henshall, who scored 11 points and nailed three of his four attempts from long range.

Other Wildcats struggled to connect from distance, Dylan Windler shot 0-6, but they were able to take advantage of the Breakers turning the ball over 18 times to outscore New Zealand 23-6 from turnovers. Keanu Pinder remains out of the starting lineup in favour of David Okwera, who curiously continues to start but play the least minutes of anyone in John Rillie‘s rotation. Pinder played 23 minutes off the bench and scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds. 

Perth led early but let Tacko Fall get going and halfway through the second quarter allowed the Breakers to go on a 9-0 run to take a 37-35 advantage. At that stage they were being outrebounded 14-3, and had no answer for Fall’s height. New Zealand were able to just throw the ball up to Fall around the rim and he was dropping in layups with ease. The visitors finished the first half strong after Fall went to the bench, outscoring New Zealand by six in the final 90 seconds to enter the main break with an 11-point lead.

New Zealand came out all guns blazing in the third term, Mooney catching fire to score 15 points in the quarter and bring the home side back within two points going into the final period. Mooney had collected three fouls in the opening half but benefitted from some extended run in the third. In the second half Perth opted to double-team Fall with combinations of Wagstaff, Pinder, next-star Izan Almansa and injury replacement player Todd Withers, and were able to prevent his domination from continuing. 

It was all Wildcats in the fourth term as Cotton scored 16 of his 41 points to close the game out. With just 3:42 remaining the deficit for the Breakers was just one point, but Perth ended the game on an 11-2 run to run out victors. 

Perth climbed to fourth spot on the NBL25 table, one win behind Melbourne and Sydney in second and third, with a game in hand heading into the final five rounds of the season. They now sit 12-9 for the year, winners of four of their last five outings. 

New Zealand finish Round 15 with an away clash against the Brisbane Bullets on Wednesday evening, while Perth must wait a full week before their next matchup on Sunday morning against the Tasmania Jackjumpers at MyState Bank Arena.