Doolittle, Windler fire 'Cats past Phoenix

The Perth Wildcats continued their blistering road form in NBL26 with Dylan Windler and Kristian Doolittle combining for 51 points and 20 rebounds as they knocked off the second-placed South East Melbourne Phoenix 107-97 on Saturday.

Windler paired 27 points with eight rebounds at Melbourne's State Basketball Centre on Saturday night, while fellow import forward Kristian Doolittle posted 24 points - including 14/18 free throws - and 12 boards.

Elijah Pepper caught alight from the perimeter, bombing 4/6 threes in his 18-point haul along with three steals, two assists and two rebounds with the Wildcats continuing their standout form having won 10 of 14 now for the season away from Perth.

The only sour note for the Wildcats was an apparent recurrence of a hamstring injury for key playmaker and point guard Jaron Rillie with import guard David Duke Jr already sidelined with an elbow complaint.

The win enhances the top-four prospects for the Wildcats as they improve to 14-10 just behind the 14-9 Sydney Kings with seven of their final nine games now at RAC Arena.

The Wildcats shot the ball at a blistering 56 per cent from the field while going 12/28 from deep and 19/24 at the foul line with Doolittle on his own with 18 free-throw attempts having more than the 11 the Phoenix took as a team.

South East Melbourne remain in second spot despite the loss at 16-8 with Wes Iwundu finishing with 27 points on 11/19 shooting while Nathan Sobey put up some impressive numbers again with 24 points, eight assists, four rebounds and two steals.

They just didn’t get enough help with no other players scoring in double-figures and the bench especially struggling with Ian Clark only managing six points on 3/10 shooting, Angus Glover eight on 3/9 and DJ Mitchell scoreless on 0/3.

South East Melbourne opened up a 26-22 lead before the visitors finished the quarter with a 10-0 rush over the last 2:04 to lead 32-26 at the first break.

The Phoenix knocked down 6/11 from three-point range in the first term and outrebounded the Wildcats 12-7.

But the home side came wildly undone through turnovers, coughing up eight of them for the period.

Ben Henshall's lightning hands played a huge part in South East Melbourne's ball-handling woes, Perth's swingman on world record pace with four first-quarter steals.

Pepper and Doolittle took advantage of some uncharacteristically vapid Phoenix defence to stretch the Wildcats' cushion to 54-42, before Iwundu paced a strong Phoenix rally to slice the gap to 58-50 at half-time.

Sobey enjoyed a strong third term, while Perth's turnovers began to mount, as the Phoenix briefly drew level at 75-75.

The Wildcats gave themselves breathing space with a 9-0 run either side of three quarter-time, enough of a break to keep South East Melbourne at arm's length as Windler and Doolittle continued to prosper.

Both teams now prepare for Hoops Fest in Perth next week with the Wildcats up against the Illawarra Hawks on the Friday night before the Phoenix take on the Adelaide 36ers in a top-two battle on the Sunday to wrap up proceedings.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 97 (Iwundu 27, Sobey 24, Foxwell 9, Brown III 9)

PERTH WILDCATS 107 (Windler 27, Doolittle 24, Pepper 18)

BOX SCORE