Wildcats go down to ladder-leading Hawks on the road

After back-to-back away victories over Cairns and Adelaide respectively, the undermanned Wildcats – missing star duo Kristian Doolittle (groin) and Tai Webster (hamstring) lost to a powerful Hawks outfit 120-88 at WIN Entertainment Centre.

Big man Keanu Pinder had an impact off the bench with 16 points, three assists and two rebounds.

Import Dylan Windler battled hard at both ends of the floor to finish with 10 points and four rebounds.

Four-time NBL MVP Bryce Cotton (13 points and two steals) started strongly but couldn’t continue his remarkable 40-plus point streak into a fifth game.

Perth’s young starters enjoyed a hot start to the contest with Ben Henshall, Izan Almansa and David Okwera all hitting early buckets.

After trailing 5-0, the Wildcats turned things around to lead 14-10 midway through the opening term.

Cotton followed up an and-one with a mid-range jumpshot, layup and three-pointer on the way to a game-high 13 first-quarter points as his hot form continued.

But Illawarra hit back late in the term to take a handy 37-28 buffer into quarter-time.

The home side’s momentum continued in the second before Keanu Pinder started to make an impact with some important baskets as his confidence grew.

Trey Kell was causing the bulk of the damage at the other end, scoring 22 first-half points as the ladder leaders grew their lead to 63-48 by half-time.

Pinder had some good moments in the third on his way to a team-high 14 points by three-quarter time.

But the Hawks’ buffer continued to grow, with 89-63 the score with a quarter to play.

Guards Elijah Pepper (11 points) and Michael Harris (eight points) made the most of their court time in the final term, but they couldn’t help change the result against an in-form Illawarra.