The Perth Wildcats got the perfect early Christmas present with an 86-62 victory over the league-leading New Zealand Breakers at Challenge Stadium tonight.
The Wildcats were looking to bounce back hard from last week's loss to Gold Coast and did so in dominant fashion opening up a 27-point half-time lead and then go on to beat the defending champions by 24.
It improves the Wildcats record on the season to 9-5 and moves them to within a game of the Breakers who now fall to 10-4.
Click here to listen to the post-match press conference featuring Wildcats coach Rob Beveridge and Jesse Wagstaff / Or here to hear from New Zealand coach Andrej Lemanis and Mika Vukona
The 'Cats also recorded the win with Matt Knight missing the game with lingering effects of a mild concussion and then with Shawn Redhage, who was playing his 200th game with the Wildcats, going to hospital to have some bleeding to his eye checked after battling for a rebound with Mika Vukona.
Wagstaff stepped up big time with Redhage limited to just under four minutes and finished with a season-high 23 points on the back of 9-of-15 shooting from the field, and 3-of-4 from three-point range.
Kevin Lisch scored 18 points as well and pulled in six rebounds, while going a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe.
Damian Martin had a good performance playing over 32 minutes and finished with 11 points, five boards, three assists and two steals while also doing a good strong job containing New Zealand point guard Cedric Jackson.
Brad Robbins scored eight points, had four assists and three rebounds. Ben Purser provided a spark off the bench with six points and Tovey scored five (in his 200th game in the NBL), Luke Nevill four, Redhage four, Drew Williamson three, Jeremiah Trueman two and Greg Hire two.
Wildcats coach Rob Beveridge was delighted with his team to not only build such a strong first half advantage, but then overcome New Zealand go on two 7-0 scoring runs to start the third quarter and steady for the big win.
"It was a very good performance there's no doubt. We are playing some basketball which is simply outstanding and then at times we go away from it. We have been inconsistent, we know that, and we are trying to make that less so as we go along," Beveridge said.
"There was probably a patch in that third quarter where it started to happen again, but that's why I called that early timeout to try and get them refocused. Overall, it was very, very good that we were playing the No. 1 team in the league who had won five in-a-row, and for us to hold them to 62 points was very good."
The Wildcats got off to a hot start with Redhage hitting two early baskets in his 200th game. Martin also scored four points in the opening three minutes as the 'Cats led 8-3 and then 10-3 after a strong move down low from Nevill.
After the Breakers got back to within three, Tovey and Lisch then combined for seven straight Perth points and the margin was back out to eight, and then 12 by quarter-time thanks to a three from Wagstaff.
Big threes to both Wagstaff and Martin to start the second quarter soon had the Wildcats 16 points in front. It was still 17 with just under four minutes of the half to go and then rather than drop away, the 'Cats put their foot down even further with nine straight points.
After a New Zealand lay-up from Jackson, Williamson nailed a triple on the half-time buzzer to have the Wildcats in front 56-29.
The Breakers came out hot to start the third quarter nailing 14 of the first 16 points, but on this occasion the 'Cats were able to weather the storm. By the end of the third period, the Wildcats were back on top by 25 points again and in complete control.
Development player Purser then provided a spark off the bench to start the final period with six quick points and then Wagstaff capped off his season-best night with a big three to finish off the game with the 'Cats winning 86-62.
The Wildcats now travel to Townsville to take on the Crocodiles on New Year's Eve in the final game of 2011 before back-to-back Friday night home games against the Melbourne Tigers and Gold Coast Blaze.
Perth Wildcats 86 (Jesse Wagstaff 23, Kevin Lisch 18, Damian Martin 11)
defeated
New Zealand Breakers 62 (Cedric Jackson 15, Thomas Abercrombie 14, Mika Vukona 13)
Box scores
