Overtime is Cotton time

Overtime is Bryce Cotton time, and the numbers exist to prove it.

In his 161-game career, Cotton has scored more overtime points than any other Wildcat in the clubs 40-year history.

Cotton has scored 62 overtime points, with fellow 40th Anniversary Team starter Shawn Redhage ranked second on the list with 40 points.

Despite his relatively short career, Cotton is also ranked seventh all-time in the entire NBL for overtime scoring.

The other nine players in the top-10 played an average of 475 games each to reach those numbers.

Andrew Gaze tops the list with 88 overtime points.

Cotton scored 12 points, including the game-winner, during overtime on Monday night against New Zealand.

The reigning MVP said he’s not sure what takes his game to another level in crunch time.

“I think it’s just one of those things that happen. You’re so locked into the game and the will to win, just doing whatever. I guess after the fact you don’t realise how much you were in a zone until the game is done and you go back and watch film,” he said.

“I’ve never thought of it, I thought I played the same way in overtime as I do in the first four quarters.

“(Conditioning) could come into it. I know every off-season I do everything I can to put my body in the best position possible to withstand stuff like that. Whether it’s playing close to 40 minutes of a regulation game, or having to go into overtime, I trust my body and the work that I put in.”

Bryce Cotton’s highest scoring overtime period was in 2019, when he scored 14 of his 27 points in the bonus period to defeat the Sydney Kings.