Murray Wenzel
Perth have overcome a slow start that cost them an Ignite Cup final spot to beat South East Melbourne and spice up the top-four race in the run towards the NBL’s finals series.
The Wildcats trailed 30-18 late in the first term on Wednesday night before rallying to upset the second-placed Phoenix 101-93 on their home court at Perth’s RAC Arena.
The first-quarter deficit spoiled any chance the hosts had of unseating New Zealand in the in-season Ignite Cup tournament final, with Adelaide to play the Breakers for the $300,000 winner’s cheque on the Gold Coast on February 22.
The bigger picture was that Perth improved to 17-11 to sit just one win back from fourth-placed Melbourne, who they lost to by one point on Sunday, with five regular-season games to play.
“A great response after our game on Sunday,” Perth coach John Rillie said.
“We stuck with it … we’ve played some good teams in recent times.
“How we respond in tough situations, we did a good job of that today
“And in different moments we had different guys influence the outcome of the game.”
The Phoenix (19-9) remain second, but just one win ahead of Sydney and two back from leaders Adelaide.
Nathan Sobey (28 points, eight rebounds) was hot early, with six-of-12 triples for the Phoenix, and John Brown III (20 points, 14 rebounds) was his usual self.
But the Wildcats dragged it back behind a composed Ben Henshall (14 points, nine assists, five rebounds) and Elijah Pepper (22 points, six rebounds).
Dylan Windler (23 points, 11 rebounds) then joined the party with some clutch late plays when the margin was inside five points while Jo Lual-Acuil Jr (18 points, six rebounds) also stood tall.
“It was back and forth; in the third quarter we had a good lead, a bit of momentum but let him get going,” Phoenix coach Josh King said of Pepper.
“Once he gets hot, he’s capable of making a lot of shots.
“Credit to Perth, they’re undermanned, they played really hard.”
AAP