Sydney Kings show title credentials against Perth Wildcats

Improving Sydney underlined their right to be considered among the title contenders with a hard-fought home win over Perth.

Sydney’s Brad Newley drives to the basket during the Kings’ thrilling win over Perth Wildcats at Qudos Bank Arena. Picture: Getty Images

Improving Sydney underlined their right to be considered among the NBL’s genuine contenders with a hard-fought 77-72 home win over ladder leaders Perth.

The Kings led by 15 in the second quarter and by 13 early in the final quarter at Qudos Bank Arena.

But the Wildcats, who suffered just their second loss in 12 games, showed all of their renowned resilience to get within one point inside the last five minutes of the match.

Brad Newley and Kevin Lisch each scored 16 for Sydney, while Nick Kay and Terrico White each tallied 17 for Perth and teammate Clint Steindl contributed 16 off the bench.

Perth were again without their league-leading scorer Bryce Cotton, but had inspirational skipper Damian Martin back from a calf injury and the tenacious defender helped limit Jerome Randle to a season-low eight points.

A 10-0 run in the second quarter sparked by six straight points from Newley broke open a previously close game and helped push Sydney to a 43-33 halftime lead.

Perth didn’t get their first free throw until almost halfway through the second quarter, by which time Sydney had nailed 12 of 14 attempts from the charity stripe.

A nip-and-tuck first quarter produced seven lead changes, with Andrew Bogut scoring six of Sydney’s first 10 points.

The Wildcats starters combined for just 17 first-half points, only one more than their bench mustered through the first two quarters.

Sydney led by as much as 15 in the third quarter, but Perth slashed the deficit to six as the Kings missed five straight field goal attempts before the home team steadied to hold a nine-point buffer going into the final term.

AAP