Young guns shine as Wildcats defeat NBL1 West Select
Written By
Jordan McArdle
The Wildcats dominated after quarter-time to prevail 131-108 with several young guns making the most of their opportunities.
Emerging tall David Okwera impressed with a game-high 24 points, falling one rebound shy of a double-double in an exciting sign ahead of his second season as a Wildcat.
Okwera was one of six Wildcats to reach double digits alongside fellow youngsters Elijah Pepper, who backed up his 22-point game on Friday night with 21, and recently-signed Development Player Tom Gerovich whose 16 points came in less than 13 minutes on court.
Gerovich didn't miss a shot all night, hitting seven of seven attempts including two triples.
Four-time NBL MVP Bryce Cotton caught fire in the opening term, scoring 10 points in seven minutes, including a massive dunk, to go with a bullet-like assist to Kristian Doolittle who converted from outside the arc.
Cotton finished with 22 for the match in just 16 minutes.
Leading 34-27 at quarter-time, the Wildcats went into showtime mode in the second quarter to blow the margin out to 73-50 by the main break.
Cotton was up to 19 points by half-time, with Pepper not far behind on 14 and Okwera on nine, shooting four of six from the field, to go with five rebounds.
Keanu Pinder's 360 brought the house down and Tai Webster provided another stunning first-half highlight with an impressive dunk as the Wildcats went on a 12-0 run in the second term.
It was much of the same in the third with Perth's lead continuing to build as Okwera (16 points and eight rebounds) neared double-double territory with his team leading 101-74.
Gerovich had a purple patch in the third, scoring five consecutive points, before going nuts in the last to race to 16 by the final buzzer.
The usual starters got some rest and Gerovich, fellow DP Dontae Russo-Nance (five points, five assists and three steals) and other youngsters like Pepper, Okwera and Ben Henshall (nine points and seven assists) got some valuable court time.
The Wildcats fly out to Japan on Tuesday afternoon for a trio of pre-season clashes against B-League outfits before the annual NBL Blitz tournament on the Gold Coast.
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