Wildcats fall short against United in Cotton's 250th

A career-high points haul from in-form import Kristian Doolittle wasn’t enough as the Wildcats went down 99-93 in a hard-fought contest between two top-four outfits. 

Doolittle put up 33 points, beating his previous best of 27 against Adelaide last Friday night, to go with seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

In his 250th game as a Wildcat, Bryce Cotton (14 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals) finished the game strongly, while Elijah Pepper provided a late spark and Ben Henshall had some good moments. 

With Dylan Windler out with an eye injury, Todd Withers came into the line-up and was straight into the starting five, having an immediate impact in forcing a Rob Loe turnover.

Withers then followed that up with an important three to level the scores at 7-7 midway through the opening term.

Melbourne United went on a run to lead by as much as eight with a few minutes remaining in the first.

Then the Wildcats, inspired by imports Doolittle and Cotton who combined for 14 first-quarter points, turned the game on its head with 10 unanswered points to take a 23-21 lead at quarter-time.

Doolittle became the first player to reach double digits shortly after the resumption, while Keanu Pinder brought the house down with a stunning poster dunk on Marcus Lee.

Captain Jesse Wagstaff (10 points and three rebounds) was doing plenty during his time on court, with a three-pointer, offensive rebound and behind-the-back pass in the space of a minute.

Pinder (10 points and seven rebounds) was also making his presence felt at both ends of the floor on the way to six first-half rebounds to go with seven points, one block and one steal.

United enjoyed another purple patch before half-time, but not before a Wagstaff buzzer-beater three which cut the deficit back to 46-43.

After a game-high 16 first-half points, Doolittle opened the Wildcats’ scoring in the second half before triple from David Okwera.

Henshall then joined the three-point party with back-to-back long-range efforts to help snatch the lead back for his team.

The visitors took the lead back briefly before Doolittle hit consecutive mid-range jumpers to shift the momentum once again.

Doolittle’s defensive efforts were also impressive, highlighted by a massive block on Shea Ili late in the third term.

Melbourne started their final quarter like they finished the third as their third-point three-quarter time buffer grew to double figures.

The Wildcats came back strongly late to make a game of it. 

A successful coaches challenge saw Doolittle go to the line for two shots after the charging call was reversed, moving past the 30-point mark for the first time in his NBL career by hitting them both.

Pepper then scored a put-back followed by a triple and all of a sudden it was a one-point ballgame with a little over two minutes to go.

But United steadied for a six-point win.

The Wildcats are back in action at RAC Arena on Saturday, taking on Cairns Taipans from 5pm.