Wildcats celebrate 40th Anniversary game in style

Details
Perth Wildcats 106 defeat Cairns Taipans 106
RAC Arena
Box Score
16 April 2022

Summary
The Perth Wildcats needed a win, and they delivered in a big way. On a night where the club celebrated its 40th Anniversary, Perth had its best offensive night of the season piling on a season-high 106 points. Despite giving up 29 first quarter points, the Wildcats held a narrow lead at the first break through strong first quarter efforts from Michael Frazier II and Jesse Wagstaff. The Taipans stayed with the home team for the majority of the second quarter, before a wild 25-second period late in the half where Bryce Cotton dropped 10-points to see the Wildcats go up by seven at the interval. From there, the lead only increased as the Wildcats dominated the second half through a relatively even scoring spread. The only concern for the Wildcats was an injury to star Vic Law in the third quarter,

Reaction
Scott Morrison’s initial reaction
“That should be the goal every game; play together, be hard to guard as a team, play defence as a team, rebound as a team, and I thought the guys did a pretty good job tonight.”

Bryce Cotton’s thoughts
“We’re still trying to punch our ticket into the playoffs, and it’s now or never basically for us, but if we keep playing with this sense of urgency that’ll be good. But, as good as it is to get the win, we have to flush it out of our minds as soon as we get home tonight.”

Player focus
Bryce Cotton had a career-high 11 assists to go with 22 points in the sixth double-double of his career. Michael Frazier II had a season high 19 points, while Vic Law also had 17 in his 19 minutes before getting injured. Matt Hodgson continued his good form with 14 points, four rebounds and three blocks

Key stats and facts
106 points is the Wildcats highest total of the season. 15 made threes was also the most by the Wildcats at home this year.
The Wildcats scored 41 points from their bench.

Next game
The Perth Wildcats take on the Illawarra Hawks on Friday night at RAC Arena.