Pepper red hot as lights-out Wildcats shoot down Snakes
Steve Barrett |
The Perth Wildcats have produced a phenomenal, lights-out shooting display to crush the Cairns Taipans 106-69.
In a performance for the ages, the fifth-placed Wildcats shot a blistering 40-of-67 from the floor, including 15-of-27 from three-point range, at RAC Arena on Thursday night.
Now 16-10 for the season, the Cats sprinted away from the ninth-ranked Taipans (7-19) on the back of a 38-13 third-quarter evisceration.
Elijah Pepper, with a career-high 25 points and 6-of-7 three-pointers, Kristian Doolittle (19, 3-of-3) and Dylan Windler (15, 3-of-6) led their long-range assault.
“Guys were able to find me and I got a couple to go,” Pepper said.
“It just kept going in.
“It feels like we’re hitting more consistent basketball, and that’s always great, especially at this time of the season when we’re fighting for a finals spot and a good seeding.”
Jack McVeigh (34 points, 8-of-15 threes) was the only Taipan to notch double-digits.
An 11-0 rush either side of quarter-time bumped Perth’s slender 26-25 lead to 37-25.
The Wildcats held sway 54-43 at halftime, a margin that would have been greater if it wasn’t for the brilliance of McVeigh, who single-handedly kept Cairns alive, scoring 20 first-half points, which included six triples.
The Taipans were never remotely in the hunt again.
Pepper scored the first eight points of the third term – and he didn’t stop there.
The sharpshooter scored 20 points for the quarter, a haul which included six treys.
Perth hit 13-of-16 for the quarter and 8-of-9 from deep – a figure which had been perfect until Pepper missed a long prayer on the three-quarter-time buzzer.
While the Wildcats blazed away, McVeigh at one stage had Cairns’ only 10 points of the term and scored 30 of the Snakes’ first 53 points.
McVeigh’s obvious frustration mounted late in the fourth when he earned himself a technical foul for hotly disputing a non-call, while Perth’s shooting only cooled off with the finish line in sight.
AAP
