Steindl uses Cotton to stitch up the Breakers
Bryce Cotton the Breakers expected. But not the gamechanging display of three-point marksmanship from Clint Steindl. Cotton and Steindl combined for 40 points to lead the Perth Wildcats to a 92-78 Australian NBL home victory over the New Zealand Breakers yesterday. That improved their league-leading record to 5-2, while the Breakers drop to 2-3 with their first road defeat of the season. The Breakers hung tough for three quarters at the loud Perth arena, trailing by just a single point heading into the final stanza, but managed just seven points in the final period to sink without trace. Cotton was unstoppable for the Wildcats early on, with the reigning league MVP pouring in 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting, including 3-of-9 from beyond the arc. He hauled in nine rebounds for good measure. Sixteen of Cotton’s points came in the first half, when the Arizona native missed just three of his 10 field goal attempts and kept his team in the contest. But it was Steindl’s breakout game from beyond the arc that proved the difference in a highquality encounter. He came off the bench to swish all five of his three-point attempts in a bonus 17-point haul. The Breakers were paced by their standout power forward Tai Wesley with 22 points, the American-born, Guam-qualified big man going 10 of 16 from the floor and adding four rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a pair of steals. Corey Webster added 19 points (7/18 FG, 5/11 3PT) after getting hot in the third quarter and Shawn Long pitched in with a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds. The Breakers had shot well enough through the first three periods, but fell off late to finish at 39 per cent for the game. The hosts converted at a more respectable 47 per cent clip. The Breakers did lose small forward Armani Moore who played just 3min 59sec before exiting with a finger injury that shortened coach Kevin Braswell’s rotation. That rather offset the defection of Damian Martin from the Wildcats lineup with a calf injury. The Breakers got a healthy dose of Cotton’s offensive firepower in a free-flowing opening quarter, with the classy Cats guard pouring in 11 points on 5-of7 shooting. But the visitors managed to hang with their hosts to trail by just a single point, 27-26, at the first break. But then Cotton added five points in the final minute of the half and it was the fast-finishing hosts who took the 49-47 advantage into the major break. The Breakers surged again in the third period, creeping out by five at the mid-point as Webster found his offensive rhythm to knock down four straight triples and 14 points for the period. But the Cats again hung tough, put the clamps on Webster over the back part of the quarter, started crashing the O-boards and edged out to a 72-71 lead at the final break. After the Breakers knotted the scores at 76-76 on a five-point possession, Steindl knocked down back-to-back high-difficulty triples to put the home side out by eight (84-76) at the midway point. From there, with the Red Army roaring, the Wildcats had no trouble easing to a fifth victory of the season.