Wildcats charge ahead of finals

The Perth Wildcats have finished the regular season with a 112-89 victory over the Hunter Pirates at Challenge Stadium this evening.

The match meant nothing more than bragging rights after results last night confirmed both teams would finish seventh and eighth respectively. However, both teams put on a superb first half show for the 3,800 fans that had turned up.

David Bailey had the crowd in a second half frenzy and finish with 35 points, a record equalling eight three-point shots and seven assists. He weaved his magic, in the final term and bagged 22 points. Hunter had no response to the Bailey onslaught.

Best for the Pirates were import Mike Helms, 21 points, and Ben Melmeth, 19 points and nine rebounds.

Both teams traded baskets in a scintillating opening term. Hunter, though, made a late break and took a four-point lead, 29-25, into the quarter time break. Melmeth led the scoring for Hunter with nine-points, while Bailey netted seven points for Perth.

Baskets in the second term were hard to find, the crowd stood up for more than three minutes before the Wildcats tied the scores at 29-29 with the first two buckets through Redhage and Liam Rush. Geordie Cullen found himself in foul trouble after he conceded three fouls early. A successful dunk by Rush saw the backboard pushed out of alignment, the referees noticed a minute later and called a time out to play.

Peter Crawford began to influence the match with three rebounds and two baskets inside a minute during the second quarter. He sparked a Wildcat surge and had bagged 12-points by half time. With help from skipper Tony Ronaldson (10 points), and Matt Burston, Perth jumped clear by nine-points, 46-37, with a minute to play.

Perth led 50-44 at the half time break. Two early fouls on Crawford did not help the home side as Hunter rebounded and took the lead again with a 10-0 run. Enter Redhage, if he was not assisting players land shots, Shanahan who missed, he was rebounding for Bailey to deliver from three-point range.

Eversteyn proved was a rock in the Pirates defence under the basket, and ensured the locals had a tough time when they ventured inside the keyway. He forced many attempts from long-range, for which Shanahan and Bailey landed one each. Perth retained the lead 71-69 despite being outscored in the third term.

An offensive foul call on Dillon Boucher, early in the fourth quarter, ruffled the home fans. Russell Hinder obliged and tied the scores again with a three-pointer. Burston put Perth ahead again with two free throws, while Bailey had the crowd in a frenzy with a treble of three’s and a coast to coast play after he snatch the ball from Hinder’s grasp.

A desperate Pirates coach, Adrian Hurley, called time-out, though it had little effect as Perth roared loud ahead of the finals and took the match convincingly.

Hurley said after the game, “They (Perth) should have put us away earlier than they did.”

The coach remains confident despite the loss today, stating that his team has beaten some the good teams without their stars. He also declared that injured guard Aaron Trahair will start in the match against Cairns.

Next week the finals begin as Perth travels over to Brisbane where the Bullets await on Wednesday night. Hunter is also on the road when they play the Taipans on Thursday night. Fox Sports will show both matches exclusively.

Stay tuned to SportsAustralia.com for finals news and reviews.

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