The Perth Wildcats thrashed the Townsville Crocodiles 87-55 at Challenge Stadium tonight for a sixth straight victory and to return to the top of the NBL ladder ahead of Thursday's clash with the New Zealand Breakers.
The Wildcats won their sixth game in-a-row for the first time in Rob Beveridge's time as coach and the 32-point margin moves the 'Cats ahead of the Breakers and back to the top of the ladder.
The Wildcats and Breakers now both sit on 14-5 records with the 'Cats just 0.19 per cent ahead leading into Thursday's clash at the North Shore Events Centre.
Or here to hear from Townsville coach Paul Woolpert and point guard Eddie Gill
The 'Cats put on a defensive clinic against the Crocs tonight restricting them to just 55 points, 32 per cent shooting from the field and forcing them into 20 turnovers as well.
With good reason coach Beveridge was delighted with the four-quarter performance from his team, particularly defensively.
"I'm not worried about sending messages to anyone in the league, it's about sending a message to these guys to understand that if we are going to win a championship we have to find out what our identity is, and what brand of basketball is successful for us," Beveridge said.
"We had a great week of practice, it was short and sharp, and they were really switched on and focused knowing that Townsville had won four in-a-row. They came in knowing that they had to beat us to get into the top-two and the way that we played was tremendous.
"We came in with that ruthless, relentless attitude this game and that's what we do with Wildcats basketball. Last week we did it in the last seven minutes, but this week I think we did it for the complete game and showed our fans that this is how you play defence."
It was a strong even performance from the Wildcats with Shawn Redhage top-scoring with 16 points, Kevin Lisch adding 15, Jesse Wagstaff 13 and Luke Nevill 11.
Drew Williamson scored nine points and impressively collected eight defensive rebounds. Cam Tovey did well to finish with nine points and five boards as well.
Matt Knight returned and had seven points in just under 12 minutes of court time. Brad Robbins had three points, but impressively five steals and three assists.
Damian Martin added two points to go with his six boards, two assists, two steals and yet another massive block. Ben Purser also came on to score two points, pick up a rebound and dish out two assists.
The Wildcats started strongly with Redhage and Tovey getting the first two scores of the game and then Lisch joined in as the 'Cats led 6-2 after just over two minutes with Townsville struggling with the home team's pressure.
After a Jacob Holmes three, Tovey, Nevill, Robbins and Wagstaff all scored to help the Wildcats to a 15-9 advantage. However, six quick points to ex-Wildcat Peter Crawford brought scores level, but it was the 'Cats who finished the quarter the stronger to lead 23-17.
Knight continued his encouraging return after missing the last two games with a strong move to score the opening basket of the second quarter. However, Townsville continued to hang around and trailed by just five after an Elvin Mims jumper at the five-minute mark.
From there, though, the Wildcats got right on top scoring 11 straight points to close out the quarter and lead 43-27 at half-time.
For the third straight quarter the 'Cats got the opening score, this time through Wagstaff, and by the time Lisch nailed a triple and Nevill got a dunk the lead was out to 20.
A three to Williamson soon after had that out to 22 and then onto 24 when Redhage also managed a basket. By three quarter-time the Wildcats led 68-45 and then the rout continued in the last period.
The 'Cats scored the first 14 points of the final quarter to end up leading by 37 points after a three-point play from Lisch, and then the Wildcats cruised to the 87-55 victory.
Perth Wildcats 87 (Shawn Redhage 16, Kevin Lisch 15, Jesse Wagstaff 13)
defeated
Townsville Crocodiles 55 (Jacob Holmes 14, Peter Crawford 11, Elvin Mims 10)
Box scores
