The Perth Wildcats kept quiet Patty Mills and his explosive Melbourne Tigers teammates to win 92-76 at Challenge Stadium tonight to give the 'Cats two victories to start the 2011/12 iiNet NBL Championship season by a combined 49 points.
The Wildcats were coming off a 33-point hammering of the Adelaide 36ers last week and backed it up with a 16-point win over the highly-touted Tigers in tonight's first game of the season in The Jungle.
The battle was touted as one pitting Melbourne's explosive back court led by Mills and Tiger imports Ayinde Ubaka and Ron Dorsey up against the defensive prowess of the 'Cats in the form of Brad Robbins, Damian Martin, Kevin Lisch and Cam Tovey.
The 'Cats limited Mills to 7-of-19 shooting for the night and 19 points, 10 of which came in the final quarter. Meanwhile Ubaka had just two points and missed all nine field goal attempts and Dorsey didn’t score from his two shots either.
Lisch top-scored for the Wildcats with 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Shawn Redhage had 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists as well and Matt Knight returned from an ankle injury with 15 points.
Damian Martin had 13 points, seven assists, two steals and a massive block. Tovey scored seven points while pulling in eight rebounds and dishing out four assists as well. Jesse Wagstaff added six points, Luke Nevill five and Drew Williamson three.
Wildcats coach Rob Beveridge was happy with the effort of his team once again especially defensively, but still sees room for improvement.
"They’ve got so much offensive power and the thing is Mills is such a class act, he put on a pretty impressive performance with Damo all over him and things like that," Beveridge said.
"I think the way that we actually shut down Ubaka and Dorsey so we took away some of their scoring options was particularly good. Patty’s always going to get a lot of points so it’s important we didn’t let others get into it and I think we did a pretty good job of that.
"We’re good but we’ve got a lot of cracks in our armour and that shows that we’ve got a long way to go. I wasn’t satisfied in a lot of areas but at the same time I think the guys showed a lot of character as well."
Even Melbourne coach Trevor Gleeson was left in no doubt that the Wildcats deserve to be championship favourites right now.
"They are the favourites for a reason. They have been together three years, they know each other well and work well together. We'll learn a lot from playing them," Gleeson said.
"They are the title favourites and well and truly deserve to be. You've seen it in pre-season and the first two games now that they've won quite comfortably."
It was all Wildcats early on as Knight, Lisch and Tovey combined for the opening eight points. Shortly after a three to Tovey, three-point play to Nevill and a two to Lisch and the 'Cats led 18-4.
However, the Tigers worked their way back into it largely through strong work off the bench from ex-Wildcats Liam Rush and Matt Burston. The Tigers got to within two, but a big three to Martin for Perth helped the home side lead 22-19 at quarter-time.
Melbourne hit the lead early in the second period, but the 'Cats quickly regained control thanks a bucket from Tovey and three from Redhage. Mills and Cam Tragardh kept things close, though, for Melbourne but a massive block on Lucas Walker from Nevill led to a breakaway two for Redhage.
An incredible three-point play from Lisch straight after then put the Wildcats back on top by nine points. By half-time it was still a seven-point advantage following a Nevill tip-in.
The Wildcats then started the second half the same way as the first with Knight and Martin combining for the first six points. Then soon after when Knight, Lisch, Redhage and Wagstaff inspired a 10-0 run, the lead was out to a game-high 20 points.
Big threes to Martin and Williamson ensured that the Wildcats still held a 14-point three quarter-time advantage despite Melbourne scoring the last five points.
Three last quarter bombs from long range to Lisch ensured that the Wildcats then cruised to the 16-point victory.
The Wildcats now hit the road to play the Townsville Crocodiles next Saturday night before the next home encounter with the Adelaide 36ers on Friday October 28.
Perth Wildcats 92 (Kevin Lisch 22, Shawn Redhage 21, Matt Knight 15)
defeated
Melbourne Tigers 76 (Patty Mills 19, Cam Tragardh 18, Liam Rush 12)
Box scores
