The Perth Wildcats have gone down to the Adelaide 36ers at Challenge Stadium this evening with the Sixers recording a 96-84 victory to claim the Cattalini Cup despite the early return for the 'Cats of Damian Martin.
Point guard Martin was a surprise return from injury for the game in his first appearance since October 14 when he injured his toe, and he came through unscathed in almost 28 minutes of court time, but it was Adelaide that left The Jungle with a win for the second time this season.
And here for Adelaide coach Marty Clarke and import Diamon Simpson
Adelaide captain Adam Ballinger held aloft the inaugural Cattalini Cup after the victory as Martin Cattalini, the two-time championship winner with bother Perth and the Sixers, presented it to him.
Paul Rogers presented his medal for the MVP of the game to Adelaide import Diamon Simpson who had 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Wildcats big man Matt Knight also had a big night with 21 points, seven boards and three blocks. Kevin Lisch scored 16 points, taking him past 1000 in the NBL in his 75th game, with Brad Robbins scoring 10 points, pulling in four boards and dishing out five assists.
Jesse Wagstaff hit 12 points and had six boards while Martin had a good return game also with nine points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks. Shawn Redhage scored six points, Greg Hire five, Ben Purser three and Luke Nevill two.
Wildcats coach Rob Beveridge isn’t sure why Adelaide seems to perform so well against his team, but he's more worried about the 'Cats efforts and there was some areas to certainly work on out of the loss for him.
"I have no idea. Sometimes teams are so focused on beating us that they come into The Jungle where it's an incredible environment, and everyone rises themselves to play against us here in Perth," Beveridge said.
"That can definitely contribute to it because sometimes these teams can be outstanding against us, and I'm not taking anything away from Adelaide because they were very disciplined, focused and executed and followed their game plan, but we didn’t.
"Tonight I was disappointed because we just didn’t follow our game plan. That's what has been happening at times. Teams have come out and gone the biffo and things like that, which has unsettled us, but tonight we handled that.
"I thought we were pretty good physically and that didn’t rattle our cage at all, but it was very disappointing that the guys were unable to follow the game plan."
It was an even opening to the contest even though Knight, Robbins and Martin all combined for the Wildcats' opening 15 points of the game and they led by five just four minutes into the game.
Even though Adelaide's Chris Warren caught alight with nine quick points, Perth regained the advantage thanks to two inspired players from Hire. Firstly, a strong put back and then on a drive to the basket where he nailed the two and converted into a three-point play.
Four points to finish the opening period then ensured that the 'Cats led 30-26 after one.
However, Adelaide nailed the first five points of the second quarter to regain the lead. It then see-sawed between the two sides over the next several minutes.
A strong three-point play to Robbins, good work inside by Knight and then Redhage's first points of the game kept the 'Cats answering back each time Adelaide went in front.
Then a 6-0 run had the 'Cats looking like gaining the ascendancy only to see within minutes the Sixers opening a nine-point advantage just before half-time. However, late scores to Wagstaff and Lisch saw the 'Cats trail by just five at the main break.
Adelaide threatened to blow the game open in the third quarter with nine straight points midway through to open up a 12-point advantage, but that spurred the 'Cats on into action.
The next 10 points for the Wildcats all resulted and by three quarter-time deficit was down to just two. The Wildcats still trailed by just two points with just over six minutes to go as well, but Adelaide went on to score 12 of the next 14 points and that was enough to secure the win.
The Wildcats now spend the next two weekends away from home first against the Wollongong Hawks next Sunday and then the Gold Coast Blaze the following week before the December 23 clash with the New Zealand Breakers at Challenge Stadium.
Perth Wildcats 84 (Matt Knight 21, Kevin Lisch 16, Jesse Wagstaff 12)
defeated by
Adelaide 36ers 96 (Diamon Simpson 22, Daniel Johnson 20, Nathan Herbert 13)
Box scores
