Cotton stars again as Wildcats down defending champs

Cotton continued his mid-season hot streak, scoring a season-high 41 points as the Wildcats jumped to second on the ladder with an 8-5 record.

The three-time NBL MVP’s feat was even more remarkable considering he had just three points at quarter-time and 13 at the half.

There were plenty of other important cameos along the way, from Kristian Doolittle in the first quarter to Alex Sarr in the third and Keanu Pinder’s 10-point final term.

Captain Jesse Wagstaff also stood up at important times, hitting three triples among his 14 points, reaching double figures alongside Cotton, Pinder (18, nine rebounds and five assists) and Sarr (15 and five rebounds).

Both sides struggled to hit their shots early before former NBA player Jonah Bolden went on a shooting spree from outside the arc on the way to a team-high 28 points.

The Wildcats did well to pull the margin back from double digits with a couple of minutes left in the quarter to 23-26 at the first change as Wagstaff capped off a 7-0 run with a corner three.

Doolittle sent a scare into the Wildcats camp after landing awkwardly on his right ankle early in the second term, but came back on soon after to the relief of the nearly 12,000-strong crowd.

After trailing for most of the opening half, the home side hit the lead through Cotton who backed up his step-back two with a clutch triple.

Frenchman Sarr had an impact off the bench, but it was the Kings up 57-50 at half-time thanks to another flurry of three-pointers.

Like he did in the second quarter, Cotton caught fire to hit five consecutive points and level the scores midway through the third.

Sarr produced a couple of eye-catching dunks including an and-one before Cotton once again tied things up at 83-apiece at three-quarter time with a buzzer-beating two.

Pinder was huge at both ends of the floor in the last and Cotton continued to do Cotton things as the Wildcats runaway with a memorable victory.

The Wildcats return to action against Illawarra next Friday at Win Entertainment Centre, aiming for a seven win on the trot.