Wildcats move into pole position

THE Perth Wildcats will go into the final round of NBL action on top of the ladder after a thrilling 95-86 come-from-behind win in overtime against the Sydney Kings yesterday.

The Wildcats and Bryce Cotton took a long time to shrug off the nine-day break since their win over the Illawarra Hawks.

Cotton scored his first point 71 seconds before three-quarter time. But he dropped 14 points in overtime to finish with a game-high 27 points. Before that, Angus Brandt had kept the Cats in the game, with 19 points to three-quarter time — 13 of them in the third quarter — and nearly all of them in the paint against Andrew Bogut. Not that Bogut had a bad game. His 16 points and 15 rebounds means he will go into the finals with a doubledouble against every team in the competition.

What position the Kings and the Cats go in to the finals series is still yet to be worked out. Perth holds a one-win and percentage advantage over both Sydney and Melbourne United and will face the latter and Adelaide next weekend. If they can win in Melbourne, they will finish the season on top of the ladder with homecourt advantage in the finals, regardless of what happens against the 36ers.

The Kings, who dropped from first to third with the loss in Perth, will play their final game against the Cairns Taipans.

Adelaide still has plenty to play for also, potentially needing to beat Perth on Friday night to stop Brisbane from knocking them out of fourth spot.