The Perth Wildcats have fallen for the first time this season with the Adelaide 36ers coming into Challenge Stadium and recording a 100-92 victory tonight.
Perth Wildcats post-match press conference - Rob Beveridge, Shawn Redhage - Listen here
Adelaide 36ers post-match press conference - Marty Clarke, Stephen Weigh - Listen here
Adelaide was coming off an 0-3 start to the season following losses to Perth, Wollongong and Sydney, but bounced back well up against a Wildcats team that had previously been undefeated following the opening three games of the 2011/12 iiNet NBL Championship season.
Even though the 'Cats started strongly, Adelaide hit fire during the mid stages of the first quarter and by the second period had stretched the lead to nine points.
The Wildcats managed to lead by half-time after an inspired 10-point four-minute stretch from first-year fully-listed player Greg Hire. However, the Sixers regained the advantage early in the third quarter and then never again surrendered it.
Co-captain Shawn Redhage top-scored for the Wildcats with 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Kevin Lisch also hit 15 points to go with six boards and three assists.
Hire finished with a career-high 12 points on the back of 4-of-6 shooting from the field. Cam Tovey also hit 12 points, Brad Robbins 12 and Drew Williamson 11. Matt Knight worked hard for eight points and seven rebounds. Jesse Wagstaff chimed in with a point.
Wildcats coach Rob Beveridge picked out two clear areas that he felt let his team down on the night.
"We fouled too much, way too much. They went to the foul line 35 times and we are an up-tempo team. So we want to play up and down as much as we can to create that fatigue factor because we are in pretty good shape physically," Beveridge said.
"As soon as we foul them it stops and lets the opposition recover. I thought we did a very good job of that. We also broke down too often on our on-ball defence, which allowed too much penetration and open shots. They were the main areas – fouling too much and not defending the ball well enough."
Daniel Johnson scored 22 points for Adelaide with Stephen Weigh returning to Perth to nail 16 and pull in 10 rebounds. Nathan Crosswell had 15 points, Chris Warren 15 and Diamon Simpson 10.
Even though Weigh hit the first shot of the game, a three, on his return to The Jungle, the Wildcats started strongly racing out to a 9-3 lead.
Tovey continued his hot first quarter where he scored nine points to help maintain the lead, but Adelaide finished the period stronger with Weigh nailing two more three-pointers to help the visitors lead 24-18 after one.
Adelaide was able to open a nine-point advantage over the first four minutes of the second quarter, but then Hire hit the floor and had his best four minutes of his NBL career to date. It began with a big three, a strong post move, and then three free-throws.
The game then took a spiteful twist with some pushing and shoving resulting in six shots from the foul line for the Wildcats. Hitting three of those brought the margin back to one and then the 'Cats led 43-42 at half-time when Hire nailed a huge jumper on the buzzer.
Adelaide regained the lead with the first two baskets to start the second quarter, but it remained a tight affair with Tovey, Lisch (two) and Williamson all nailing triples for the Wildcats.
However, by three quarter-time Adelaide led by five points still. Redhage hit a two to start the last quarter to close the margin to three, but Nathan Crosswell, Johnson and Warren all came up big time for the Sixers in the final period to secure their eight-point victory.
Perth Wildcats 92 (Shawn Redhage 21, Kevin Lisch, Greg Hire 12, Cam Tovey 12, Brad Robbins 12)
defeated by
Adelaide 36ers 100 (Daniel Johnson 22, Stephen Weigh 16, Chris Warren 15)
Box scores
