Nick Kay’s Perth Wildcats’ will be looking to bounce back against Melbourne United on Monday after the Sydney Kings snatched an unlikely one point win in Perth on Friday night.
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Trailing by 11 points midway the final term, a David Wear three-pointer with 4.3 seconds remaining gave the Kings a 98-97 victory and handed Perth their first home loss for the season.
Andrew Bogut played only those final 4.3 seconds of the final term despite having only four fouls.
He'd had a tough night against Angus Brandt and the Perth crowd let him know about it.
Brandt had eight of his 12 points at the main break and his work on the glass early in the game gave Perth a good start.
The Wildcats dominated the boards, pulling down a staggering 21 offensive rebounds for the game.
Kay was instrumental in that grabbing six offensive rebounds – the most for the Wildcats- to go with three defensive rebounds and 17 points.
With Bogut out, Wear (18 points) and Dan Kickert (18) were able to team up to cause Perth some headaches in offence.
Kickert scored six quick points at the start of the second term and his seven consecutive points late in the fourth kept the door open for the visitors.
Jerome Randle (22 points) and Kevin Lisch (14) dropped important points late as the Kings went on a 17-7 run.
Kings coach Andrew Gaze was proud of the resilience his team showed.
"Most things were going well. Our shooting percentage was off the charts; a few too many turnovers. But most things were going well, accept for one area, that's offensive boards," he said.
"It was heartbreaking for us when you work so hard and that area of the game was so poor.
"Somehow or another we won that game."
Perth were hot early and opened a 55-48 lead at halftime.
Cotton had 14 points and finished with a game-high 26, five rebounds, five assists and six steals. But he managed only four points in the final term.
Perth coach Trevor Gleeson was disappointed with his team's execution late in the game.
"Yeah, we just didn't execute well down the stretch. It's disappointing, to have the lead for most of the game," he said.
"We had our opportunities, with no question. We let them get a bit of life at the end of the third quarter, with a few open threes.
"They shot the ball extremely well. It seemed like every shot they were shooting was going in."
Australian Associated Press
