Wildcats bounce back with dominant effort on glass

Perth Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson has credited his team’s energy on the glass in helping them to a 92-74 win over the Brisbane Bullets at RAC Arena on Friday night.

The Wildcats pulled down 48 rebounds to the Bullets 49, despite Brisbane’s line-up featuring some of the biggest bodies in the competition.

John Mooney led the game in that department with 13 boards.

“It was great, he’s been great all year on the glass,” said Gleeson.

“He needed some help, he’s been holding us up, and I also thought Todd did an outstanding job to start that off and dry up those second chance points.”

Blanchfield had nine rebounds.

Mooney said it was one of the team’s major discussions coming in to the game.

“I spoke about it last game, it starts with me, but everyone in the team really came to battle and that’s kind of what we talked about. Let’s be gritty on the glass and we did that,” he said.

“We beat probably the tallest team’s in the league by nine and that was the difference in the game.”

Mooney’s final stat line was impressive, with 16 points, seven assists, two blocks and two steals to go along with the rebound tally.

The game itself featured some big runs by both teams.

Perth held a strong early lead, before Brisbane closed the gap in the second quarter with a 16-point run.

The Wildcats then opened up a an 18-point lead, before, once again, the Bullets made a game of it.

In the end, some clutch shooting down the stretch saw Perth control the end result.

The game took place in an unusual environment, as the city prepares to go into a three-day lockdown.

The Wildcats will no longer travel to Cairns to face the Taipans on Sunday.

Perth Wildcats 92 (Cotton 21, Mooney 16, Wagstaff 12)

Brisbane Bullets 74 (Froling 20, Patterson 19, Sobey 14)