Wildcats win despite hot-shooting Cotton

Bryce Cotton might have knocked down seven three-pointers in his highly-anticipated first battle with his old team but the Perth Wildcats dug deep to withstand that and beat the Adelaide 36ers 94-87.

It was a record Adelaide Entertainment Centre crowd of 10,029 on Sunday afternoon with five-time MVP Cotton playing the Wildcats in a 36ers jersey for the first time after his dramatic change of clubs in the off-season.

It took Cotton almost seven minutes to score before he hit his first of seven three-pointers in the game and he did finish with 23 points with seven assists, five rebounds and three steals, but it wasn’t enough.

Cotton didn’t get to the foul line once and while he went 7/13 from downtown, he only shot 1/11 inside the arc for the game with the 'Cats doing well defensively led by new import, and fellow Providence alum, David Duke Jr.

The Wildcats had five players all scoring all double-figures in a strong team performance to score the seven-point win to make it a seventh straight win over the Sixers including four in-a-row in Adelaide to improve to 6-5 on the season.

Kristian Doolittle paced a 14-2 Perth run which turned a six-point deficit into the eventual seven-point win in the fourth quarter on his way to 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

Isaac White hit a corner three for Adelaide to trim Perth's lead to three with 44 seconds remaining, but missed another shot to tie the game from the same spot with 15 seconds left for the 'Cats to hold on.

Dylan Windler also had 18 points, 12 rebounds and five assists for the Wildcats with Duke Jr adding 16 points and four assists, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr 13 points, six rebounds and two blocks, and Jaron Rillie 10 points, four boards and three assists.

The Sixers are now 7-3 on the season with the loss with Nick Rakocevic producing 15 points and eight rebounds, Isaac White 15 points, Isaac Humphries 13 points and eight rebounds, and DJ Vasiljevic 13 points and two assists.

The 36ers led 18-17 at quarter-time before rebounding became a big problem for them.

After outrebounding Adelaide 13-10 in the opening period, Perth smashed the home side on the boards 14-4 in the second, including 8-2 on the offensive glass, led by Windler.

Still, it was the 36ers - behind Rakocevic playing his best quarter of the season and two last-second free throws from Matt Kenyon - who crept in front 45-44 at half-time.

The contest continued to seesaw after the break, the first three periods containing 35 lead changes, before Cotton gave the hosts a 76-72 cushion when he buried a triple - his fifth for the game - on the three quarter-time siren.

Cotton drained his sixth and seventh three-pointers early in the fourth as Adelaide's advantage moved to a game-high six points, before the 36ers went ice cold, missing 12 of their next 13 shots.

The 36ers now head to MyState Bank Arena to play the Tasmania JackJumpers on Thursday with the Wildcats returning home to play host to the New Zealand Breakers on Saturday night.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26

ADELAIDE 36ERS 87 (Cotton 23, Rakocevic 15, White 15)

PERTH WILDCATS 94 (Windler 18, Duke Jr, Doolittle 16)

BOX SCORE