Pepper, Cotton star as Wildcats down NBL1 West Select

In the first of two games against the best of the NBL1 West, the second of which is on Sunday at Lakeside, the Wildcats dominated after half-time to prevail 118-100.

Bryce Cotton did Bryce Cotton things to continue where he left off last season on the way to 19 points, but the story was red-hot Pepper who made the most of his first game in red.

Pepper scored a game-high 22 points, including five three-pointers, to put his hand up for extended minutes in NBL25.

The 23-year-old was at his best in the second term, when he hit a dozen points.

Kristian Doolittle was strong at the defensive end of the floor, finishing with seven rebounds to go with five points, four assists and two steals.

Head coach John Rillie opted for his ever-reliable starting five of last season – Keanu Pinder, Hyrum Harris, Doolittle, Tai Webster and four-time NBL MVP Cotton.

Hyrum Harris (13 points), one of six Wildcats to reach double digits, got the Morley crowd on their feet with a one-handed dunk to level the scores at 10-apiece.

Michael Harris, Ben Henshall and David Okwera all came into the game about four minutes in, with recruit Pepper not far behind.

Pepper’s first points as a Wildcat came with a corner three late in the first term as his new new took a 32-21 lead into quarter-time.

Unsurprisingly, Cotton was the first Wildcat to reach double digits early in the second quarter.

Pepper hit another three triples in the second to go with a brilliant and-one layup on the way to a game-high 15 first-half points.

The Wildcats led by as much as 16 in the second term before NBL1 West hit back to cut the margin back to 57-53 at the major break.

A star-studded five started the second half for the Wildcats and it showed, with the NBL powerhouse scoring 12 consecutive points to take a stranglehold on the contest.

Cotton was up to 19 by three-quarter time and Pepper 17 as the Wildcats' lead grew to 90-69.

Home-grown Development Player Tom Gerovich, who only signed a few days earlier, got his first minutes as a professional basketballer midway through the final term.

Gerovich nailed a huge dunk with less than three minutes to go in a memorable way to score his first points at the club.

Henshall provided some firepower off the bench with 18 points, including four triples, to go with six rebounds and two steals.