Cotton the hero as Wildcats win OT thriller in Tasmania

Bryce Cotton has showed what true confidence in your ability looks like, stepping up to knock down a game-saving triple as time expired to send the Wildcats Tuesday night clash with the Breakers to overtime.

Perth would go on to win 85-79 in the extra period in their first game in Tasmania since 1996.

While Cotton was finding ways to impact the game, his shooting from long range had been below his usual standard – missing 15-straight over the last two games combined.

He didn’t let that bother him as he put up the three-ball with his team trailing by three with 0.7 seconds remaining on the clock.

“Given the circumstance, I definitely had a cleaner and better look the first time, but McDowell-White made that extra free throw to give us another chance,” said Cotton.

“It (shooting form) doesn’t bother me. I know the work I’ve put in in the off-season, so I back myself, but this game I wanted to try come out and get into the paint as much as possible. Adelaide did a good job collapsing, so I was going to try see if I could create shots for my teammates, but I was able to get some good looks in the paint in the process.”

Trevor Gleeson was right behind the clutch three.

“The guys knew the play, executed the play. BC with the double-pump, I was right behind it. It looked pretty good but I thought it might be a bit short! But we’ll take it.”

After starting the game very slowly, and trailing 9-23 after the first quarter, Gleeson said he’s very impressed with the resilience his team showed.

“They kept their composure, didn’t get too high or too low, just kept playing, and it was a really good overtime game for us,” he said.

“Teams are coming after us when we play them, when your top of the ladder or top two, teams mark it in the calendar, they’re going to come out ready to play.

“Sometimes you can lose your bundle and mark it down as a loss, but our resilience was pretty good to stay the fight and see what happens.”

Mitch Norton had a career-high nine rebounds to go with 11 points, while Todd Blanchfield added 16.

Jarred Bairstow and John Mooney had nine rebounds each.

The Wildcats have now recorded two wins and no losses in Launceston, with the games taking place 39 years apart.

Their next game is on Friday against the Illawarra Hawks at RAC Arena.

Perth Wildcats 85 (Cotton 36, Blanchfield 16, Norton 11

NZ Breakers 79 (Delany 25, Webster 11, Abercrombie 10)