Sixers shooting off target in loss to Wildcats

The Adelaide 36ers battled hard but ultimately when the shots aren’t falling, it can sometimes just not be your day and the Perth Wildcats took advantage to take away the 92-73 Sunday win from Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

The Sixers came into the game minus Cam Bairstow and then lost his replacement in the starting line-up, Kai Sotto, to a corked thigh early in the second quarter, but they continued to battle against a rejuvenated Wildcats line-up.

Ultimately the tone for the game was set in the opening minutes with the 36ers unable to make a shot and Perth's stars, Bryce Cotton, Todd Blanchfield and Vic Law, catching fire as they raced to a 15-2 lead.

Adelaide continued to battle and there was a stretch in both the third and fourth quarters where they brought the margin back inside single figures, but it just wasn’t quite to be.

In the end, you couldn’t fault the effort put in by the 36ers. In a lot of ways they outworked and outhustled the Wildcats, finishing with 47 rebounds to 42 including 22 offensive boards to five for 18 second chance points.

The major difference just came down to shooting. Adelaide went 26/85 from the field at 30 per cent and 7/37 from downtown for 18 per cent. In contrast, Perth went 28/57 at 49 per cent and 13/29 from deep.

On most nights, taking a mammoth 28 extra field goals than your opponents would result in the W.

Daniel Johnson again top-scored for the Sixers with 19 points to go with 12 rebounds while Tad Dufelmeier enjoyed his elevation to the starting group with 12 points and five boards.

Sunday Dech had 10 points, two rebounds and two steals with Dusty Hannahs scoring 10 points but again played fewer than 15 minutes. 

Todd Withers finished with nine points and seven rebounds, Manny Malou five points and two boards, Mitch McCarron four points, nine rebounds, six assists and two steals, Hyrum Harris two points and two boards, and Mojave King two points and an assist.

Pearlman couldn’t fault the effort from the 36ers, but ultimately they just didn’t shoot the ball well enough.

"As disappointed as we are, it is hard to fault our effort. That statistic does show that. It wasn't long rebounds bouncing in our hands, we were chasing," Pearlman said.

"There were a lot of great things in the effort areas, but at the end of the day we couldn't put the ball in the hole often enough.

"I thought we did have some possessions there driving through elbows, but they were quite compact in there. I don't feel as though we made enough shots there."

Meanwhile for Perth, Bryce Cotton had 27 points, Todd Blanchfield 22 and Vic Law 22.

If you asked the 36ers what the worst possible start would have been, it would have included Bryce Cotton hitting from deep, Vic Law converting an and-one and then Todd Blanchfield shooting himself back into form.

That all happened to start the game after four minutes, the Wildcats led 15-2 as a result with Adelaide's only two points coming courtesy of Daniel Johnson coming off his huge performance on Friday night.

Johnson got a couple more at the stipe for Adelaide and then with Todd Withers and Dusty Hannahs coming into the game, the Sixers found some buckets with the former knocking down a three and the latter scoring six quick points.

However, Adelaide had gone 1/12 from the field to start the game and 0/6 from deep while the Wildcats were on fire. By the end of the first quarter, Blanchfield had hit four triples and the 'Cats had made 5/6 for the 27-20 advantage.

Then jus as Adelaide appeared to be working back into it, the Wildcats pulled away again going on a 9-0 run with Cotton scoring seven of them for the 41-28 edge.

Hannahs provided a steadying basket for the 36ers and then Dech knocked down a couple of three balls, but still by half-time Perth was on top 50-34 even with Adelaide dominating the glass including 16 offensive rebounds to one for nine second chance points.

The difference was all in the shooting with Adelaide going 26 per cent from the field to 57 from Perth, and 13 per cent from beyond the arc to the Wildcats' 55.

Adelaide did start the second half better beginning with scores from Tad Dufelmeier and Johnson before a 7-0 run that started with a triple from Johnson.

The Sixers kept working back into the contest and Manny Malou knocked down a three and soon after when he hit two free-throws the margin was back to nine. But Cotton returned for Perth to stretch the lead back to 19 and then still 16 by three quarter-time.

The 36ers weren’t done yet, though, and scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to breathe some life back into the contest in the first three minutes topped off by Johnson's three-pointer.

They wouldn’t get any closer, though, and Perth ended up cruising to the 19-point road win. 

The Sixers are next in action back at the old Adelaide 36ers Arena to take on the New Zealand Breakers on Saturday night.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 14

ADELAIDE 36ERS 73 (Johnson 19, Dufelmeier 12, Dech 10, Hannahs 10)

PERTH WILDCATS 92 (Cotton 27, Law 22, Blanchfield 22) 

BOX SCORE