BOXSCORE

The Perth Wildcats set up a tantalising top-of-the-table clash with New Zealand by beating the third-placed Townsville Crocodiles 87-55 at Challenge Stadium on Saturday night.

The Wildcats went a long way to securing the victory with an 11-0 run over the last five minutes of the second quarter, before two Drew Williamson triples and some Peter Crawford ill-discipline had the Cats up by 24 in the third term.

The home team then scored the first 14 points of the last period to lead by 37 with just under five minutes to go and cruised to the 32-point win.

The Cats set up the win thanks to some trademark full-court defensive pressure, forcing the Crocs into 12 turnovers in the first half and another eight in the second.

Townsville have not won in Perth since the famous semi-final victory in February 2009, and the loss keeps them locked in a battle to remain in the top four.

It was even contribution from the Cats with Shawn Redhage scoring 16, Kevin Lisch 15, Jesse Wagstaff 13, Luke Nevill 11, and Damian Martin limiting the influence of Crocs point guard Eddie Gill.

Nevill clearly took the points in his match-up with Crocs giant Luke Schenscher.

Jacob Holmes top-scored for the Crocs with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Crawford had a tough night but scored 11 and Elvin Mims added 10 in a night to forget for Townsville.

The Wildcats won their sixth straight game for the first time in Rob Beveridge's time as coach, and now play New Zealand on Thursday in a game with huge bearing on who will take first place and home-court advantage in the playoffs.

Perth Wildcats 87 (Redhage 16, Lisch 15, Wagstaff 13)
Townsville Crocodiles 55 (Holmes 14, Crawford 11, Mims 10)

Crowd: About 4000 at Challenge Stadium, Perth