Wells: Wildcats win set up by “best defensive quarter of the year”

Adelaide 36ers Head Coach Mike Wells says his side’s third quarter against Perth on Sunday was its best defensive performance of the season, and helped the Sixers to a third straight win.

Bryce Cotton was at his best against his former side with 36 points, three rebounds and seven assists as the Sixers moved to 17-4 for the season.

The Wildcats burst out of the blocks before the Sixers flipped the script in the second half with a defensive masterclass to win 95-84 at home.

The win keeps the Sixers on top of the Hungry Jack’s NBL ladder.

Wells said the third period, in which the Wildcats were held to just nine points, showcased some of his side’s defensive capability and turned the game.

“We just didn't have much of a rhythm in the first half,” Wells said after the game.

“Whether it was energy, whether it was them, you know, and you give them credit, whether it was us, whether it was our offence, whether it was defence, whether you know, a whole bunch of different things.

“But I thought we really battled in the first half to only be down three at half time was huge and all we talked about was kind of getting our feet under us and trying to play Sixer basketball.

“The quarter (finished) 29 to 9. That's our best defensive quarter of the year I think, by far.”

Perth started stronger, opening up a 14-point advantage in the first period, stunning the record 10,041 crowd at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

With Isaac Humphries and Troy Brown Junior each giving away two early fouls, DJ Vasiljevic came off the bench to provide a spark and help his side pull back to within nine points at the first break.

When Kristian Doolittle missed two free throws for the Wildcats in the first minute of the second period and his former teammate Bryce Cotton went down the other end and hit a three pointer, the Sixers had closed to within four points and the crowd was back in the game.

Within four minutes, a basket from beyond the arc by Vasiljevic had the home side in front for the first time.

While the Wildcats were able to wrestle it back, the three-point half time margin was much more palatable for Wells and his charges.

Then something clicked. The Sixers were desperate on the defensive end and held the Wildcats to just nine points for the third period, while Cotton was unstoppable, adding 10 points for the third quarter and dishing off nearly as many including a late play that saw Vasiljevic hit a three-quarter time buzzer beating triple to give Adelaide a 17-point advantage with one quarter to play.

While the Wildcats fought back in the last few minutes to bring the margin down to 11 at the final buzzer, it was a big win at home for the Sixers.

Afterwards, Wells was full of praise for the way Cotton lifted the side.

“Bryce is playing a tonne of minutes,” the coach explained. “He's scoring a bunch of points…

“He had the look in his eye, you know, a times he was telling us, ‘get everybody out of my way’. I'm thinking, ‘all right, what do you want me to do with the other nine guys, Bryce?’

“He was locked in the zone and he wanted to go. And, you know, we're still getting to know him a little bit when he gets locked into that sort of thing.

“But I saw the look. I think our team saw the look. He wanted his teammates to shoot the open shots. He wanted everybody to be aggressive, but collectively, it started on the defensive end in that deal, and we cleaned up the boards and we kept them out of the paint, and, you know, we got back in the third.”

The Sixers will next host Sydney at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Friday night.