Norton praised in win over Hawks

Perth Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson has again singled out the defensive performance of Mitch Norton following his team’s 83-69 win over the Illawarra Hawks.

The result makes it back-to-back wins for Perth, and 11 of the last 12.

Gleeson praised Norton’s performance while matched up on Hawks scorer Tyler Harvey.

“I thought he was the best player out there on the defensive end, he wouldn’t let Harvey catch the ball. We were disrupting them on defence and Mitch was instrumental in us getting that lead,” he said.

“There’s only a handful of guys that can affect the outcome of a game on the defensive end, the best one retired last year, and Mitch is starting to get that now. He affects the game on the defensive end. He organises us as well, he’s been outstanding for this whole year.”

The game was an arm wrestle, but the Wildcats second have defence suffocated Illawarra.

John Mooney was enormous once again with 17 points and 15 rebounds, while Todd Blanchfield hit six three-pointers for his 18 points.

“It was nice considering I didn’t see one go through the rim in Tasmania, so it was definitely a nice change,” said Blanchfield.

“We work hard at training behind the scenes to get the shots up. The mentality always has to be that the next one is going in.”

Bryce Cotton worked his way into the game, and his 17 second half points were crucial in securing the win.

Perth’s dominance on the glass was influential, grabbing 50 boards to the Hawks 37, which helped make up for a less-than-ideal shooting per centage of 37.

The Wildcats are back at RAC Arena on Sunday, taking on the NZ Breakers.

Perth Wildcats 83 (Blanchfield 18, Cotton 18, Mooney 17)

Illawarra Hawks 69 (Froling 15, Harvey 14, Simon 10)