BOXSCOREAn on-fire Jesse Wagstaff ensured the Perth Wildcats maintained top spot on the NBL ladder with an emphatic 92-80 win over Gold Coast at Challenge Stadium on Friday.
Wagstaff continued his recent hot run of form with 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting in just under 22 minutes to lead a Wildcats team that took control after a tight first quarter.
That improves Perth to a 12-5 record, while the Blaze now sit on a 6-8 record and have a short turnaround before facing Melbourne at The Cage on Sunday.
While both Perth's Matt Knight and Gold Coast's James Harvey were late withdrawals with calf injuries, the Blaze suffered another blow late in the first quarter when Chris Goulding hurt his knee in a collision with Greg Hire.
The former Wildcat had started in place of Harvey and had four early points, but took no further part after he was helped from the court with just over a minute to go in the opening period.
That left the Blaze shorthanded and the home side eventually wore them down. Gold Coast led by as many as five points early, but by half-time the Wildcats had opened that up to 10, extending the margin to 19 before cruising to an easy win.
Wagstaff was well supported by Kevin Lisch (21 points), Shawn Redhage (15) and Cam Tovey (8 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals).
Damian Martin was outstanding defensively, limiting Adris Deleon to 18 points on a wayward 6-of-17 shooting.
Mark Worthington was hampered by foul trouble but still had 14 points for the Blaze, Adam Gibson (15) and Will Hudson (10 points, 8 rebounds) also reached double figures.
Perth Wildcats 92 (Wagstaff 25, Lisch 21, Redhage 15)
Gold Coast Blaze 80 (Deleon 18, Gibson 15, Worthington 14)
Crowd: About 4000 at Challenge Stadium, Perth
