Wildcats defeat league-leaders in Melbourne

Details
Perth Wildcats 97 defeated Melbourne United 87
John Cain Arena
Box Score
10 March 2022

Summary
In a battle between the first and third ranked teams, the Perth Wildcats were able to gain the ascendancy early and found themselves up double-figures in the first quarter. However, Melbourne pegged their way back and found themselves up at the half. Mitch Norton, Majok Majok and Vic Law went to work in the third as the lead changed multiple times, until the Wildcats were able to open up a five-point advantage at the final change. The game was poised to go the distance but the visitors had other ideas, pushing the lead out to double-digits through a Bryce Cotton dagger, claimingtheir first win in Melbourne of the season.

Reaction
Scott Morrison when asked if it was the Wildcats best game of the season:
“I think it was our most solid performance. The thing you have to do in this league is not beat yourself, and I think it was our best performance in that sense. Tehre were some flashier performances, some better shooting performances, we were four for 24 from three, so it wasn’t pretty all the time but it was our best performance in terms of not beating ourselves and giving ourselves and chance to win.”

Mitch Norton on career-high performance:
“They (Law and Cotton) draw a lot of attention for all the right reasons, and they’re willing passers, they’re fantastic teammates, they put the team first, they put guys in position where they have to step up and I was able to take advantage of that and I can’t credit thoise guys enough.” 

Player focus
Mitch Norton had a career-high 26 points to go with five rebounds and four assists. Vic Law had a monster 20 points and 18 rebounds, while Bryce Cotton chipped in with 19 including the dagger plus five assists. Majok Majok was huge, finishing with a season-high 13 points and six rebounds in his best game of the year.

Key stats and facts
97 is the highest score any team has scored against United this season, and 10 points is their biggest defeat of the season.
54-points in the paint was a new season high for the Wildcats and the most any team had scored on United this season
The Wildcats had their season-low from three-point range (4 of 24)
Vic Law had his sixth double-double of the season, with a career-high 18 rebounds

Next game
The Perth Wildcats take on the Brisbane Bullets at Nissan Arena on Saturday