Wildcats sweep past Bullets

The Perth Wildcats have swept aside the Brisbane Bullets with a convincing 115-93 victory at Challenge Stadium in Perth tonight.

Perth set up their win with a dominant second half in which they outscored Brisbane 63-45. Shawn Redhage top scored with 31 points (11 rebounds and six assists), while David Bailey was another Wildcat amongst the leaders on the boards with a double-double, 23 points and 13 assists.

Bailey narrowly missed the triple-double milestone with eight rebounds.

Former Wildcat Stephen Black finished the best for the Bullets with 25 points. Black was the game breaker in the first half with 21 but fell away after the break for only two points in each of the third and fourth quarters.

Bullets veteran Lanard Copeland scored 21 points to finish just behind Black despite playing just over half the 48-minutes. Sam Mackinnon gathered a game high 17 rebounds (14 in defense), while Redhage collected 11 rebounds for Perth.

Brisbane had the better of the opening quarter and jumped to an eight-point lead at the first break (28-20). Black and Copeland led the Bullets, while Redhage kept the Wildcats within reach with 10 points.

Three-point shots were the notable highlight of the second quarter. Liam Rush opened the term with two, while Bailey and Michael Hill traded four long-range bombs midway through.

Perth went to half time with a narrow four-point lead (52-48), with Redhage and Bailey banged through 21 points as the Wildcats charged back with a 24-9 run after a spiteful confrontation between Dillon Boucher and Bobby Brannen.

Peter Crawford chipped in after the break and netted eight points. With nine throw down from Redhage, the Wildcats took the game away from Brisbane. A 34-26 term saw the margin by three-quarter time blown out to 12 points (86-74).

Crawford bagged another seven, while sleeping giant Tony Ronaldson took over and collected eight final quarter points to finish fourth best for Perth with 17 points. Bullets veteran guard Derek Rucker landed all five free throw attempts.

The Wildcats made a clean sweep of the three-match series after earlier beating the Bullets in Brisbane and Singapore. Should the teams be tied, at seasons' end, Perth will finish higher.

Next Round, finals action heats up with the Queensland derby on Friday night when Brisbane (10-12) host the Townsville Crocodiles (7-14). The Bullets will be hoping to return to the winners' list, while the Crocs will want to remain in finals contention.

Perth (12-12) have the Christmas festive season off before returning to the court, in the first leg of the sunshine state double, against the fifth placed Taipans at the Cairns Convention Centre on December 30.

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