The Adelaide 36ers finished Round 6 on a high with a grinding 77-65 victory over the Perth Wildcats at Adelaide Arena on Sunday.

Stinging from Friday's heavy loss to Melbourne, the Sixers stormed past Perth thanks to a 15-point final quarter from CJ Massingale.

"It feels good. With this group it's anybody's night. When things are rolling like that you just try and stay positive, you try and stay active within the group," he said.

The Wildcats led 57-53 with 10 minutes to play but couldn't come up with the pressure baskets when the home side swung the momentum.

Massingale finished with 18 points, Daniel Johnson had 17 points and seven rebounds and Anthony Petrie collected 11 points and seven boards.

Matthew Knight was the stand-out for the Wildcats with 21 points and eight rebounds. Kevin Lisch added 12 at a low percentage but no other Wildcat reached double figures.

Adelaide coach Marty Clarke was not surprised by Massingale's performance.

"He played like a veteran and hopefully he's grown in confidence and he can come to play like that every week," he said.

"To be able to push the tempo a bit in the last quarter and get the ball out and get up the floor before the zone could get set, I thought we did a good job."

Wildcats coach Rob Beveridge was disappointed with key aspects of Perth's performance, including their "disgraceful" free-throw shooting.

"I thought we were in control and then we missed five or six lay-ups which was very uncharacteristic for our players," he said.

"Free throws - for us to shoot 41 per cent, 7-of-17, is totally unacceptable, right there you lose the game.

"I thought defensively the way we just fouled was ridiculous. Those things I think are completely correctable real quick."
 
The Wildcats took an early six-point lead before Petrie gave a much-needed spark off the bench. Johnson dropped 10 points for the term, including a number of inspiring team plays as Adelaide took a 24-18 advantage.
 
The game lifted in intensity as Johnson and Knight exchanged dunks, the Wildcats' centre on his way to 11 second-quarter points.

He also earned some physical attention from Petrie who chested and stared down his opponent following one of his baskets.

Adelaide maintained their lead but an enormous Damian Martin block and a Shawn Redhage lay-up with seconds left in the half reduced the Wildcats deficit to only one.

The 36ers wasted a number of opportunities to open a gap in the third term with lay-ups rolling out, easy shots missed and misdirected passes adding pressure to their game.

Wildcats guard Everard Bartlett added some sparkle with a three-point buzzer beater to give his team a 57-53 three-quarter time lead.

The previously quiet Massingale then stepped up with a number of important baskets and defensive rebounds helping Adelaide slowly edge past the visitors.
 
Perth were in foul trouble and every mistake allowed the Sixers to tighten the screws from the foul line and claim a vital win.

Adelaide 36ers 77 ( Massingale 18, Johnson 17,  Petrie 11)
Perth Wildcats 65 (Knight 21, Lisch 12)

Crowd: 3696 at Adelaide Arena