The Perth Wildcats stay within the thick of the NBL play-off race after withstanding a second-half comeback from the Illawarra Hawks to win 107-97 in Wollongong.
The Wildcats marked the top of 2022 with their fifth win up to now six video games, working up their highest rating of the season at WIN Entertainment Centre on Saturday evening to spice up their win-loss report to 10-8.
Looking to place the frustration of Tuesday’s additional time loss in Brisbane behind them, Perth responded with their best-scoring opening quarter of the marketing campaign then outpointed Illawarra 31-16 within the second to guide by 17 at halftime.
The Hawks threw down the problem to the guests within the second half, Tyler Harvey inspiring a 28-14 surge within the third time period to cut back Perth’s benefit to 3 factors earlier than drilling a three-pointer firstly of the ultimate quarter to stage the scores at 75-75.
But Corey Webster swung the momentum again in Perth’s favour with a sequence of clutch soar photographs to safe the win, the New Zealand worldwide connecting on 5-of-6 three-point makes an attempt on the way in which to a team-high 25 factors.
“We made that one hard for ourselves. You know, we had a big lead at halftime, we had an opportunity to blow them out and we didn’t capitalise on that,” Webster advised ESPN after the win.
“Nonetheless that was a great win for us to bounce back from that Brisbane game.”
Illawarra made a promising begin to the competition by ripping down six offensive rebounds within the opening 5 minutes, taking advantage of their second-chance alternatives to edge forward 18-11.
But Perth closed the primary quarter with a 30-28 lead by taking pictures at 60 per cent from the sector, Webster and TaShawn Thomas the important thing contributors with seven factors apiece.
The Wildcats made their transfer within the second time period with Brady Manek and Bryce Cotton powering the offence, Perth making seven three-pointers for the half whereas committing simply two turnovers to take a 61-44 buffer into the primary break.
Illawarra’s hopes of an upset victory had been made all of the tougher when Peyton Siva left the courtroom clutching his shoulder after a collision with Thomas late within the second quarter, the import guard dominated out for the remainder of the match.
The Hawks opened the second half with renewed vigour and Harvey stepped up with a run of eight straight factors to assist Illawarra get better from a 17-point deficit halfway by the third quarter to tie the sport early within the closing stanza.
But Webster’s scorching taking pictures and powerful contributions from Cotton (24 factors, six assists) and Manek (23 factors, 10 rebounds) consigned the bottom-ranked Hawks to their sixth successive defeat.
