Kings come up short in Perth

Written by Matt McQuade for Kings Media 

Result: Perth Wildcats 95 Sydney Kings 89

Stats That Matter: Wildcats 30/36 FT (83%); Rebound count Kings 43 Wildcats 38; Wildcats 22 assists; Kings 52 points in the paint

Kings MVP: Casper Ware was brilliant in the second half and almost led the Kings to victory.

Turning Point: A questionable unsportsmanlike foul called on Craig Moller with 2:26 left in the final period turned into a five-point play for the Wildcats.

The game was over when: Jesse Wagstaff made two free throws with 13 seconds left.

Trending in the right direction: After being crushed on the glass by the Wildcats last Sunday, the Kings responded with lion-hearted determination to win the rebound count.

The Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings have put forth a courageous effort on the road on Thursday night at RAC Arena, falling just short to the league-leading Perth Wildcats 95-89.

Despite suiting up only nine players, going up against a team that had won seven straight games, were playing in their vaunted home arena and had beaten the Kings by 24 the previous game, Sydney gave Perth everything they could handle and were more than a trifle unlucky not to escape with the victory.

The Kings were also on the end of several highly dubious refereeing decisions in the fourth quarter, with Casper Ware called for two suspect fouls on Bryce Cotton and Craig Moller whistled for a questionable unsportsmanlike foul on Todd Blanchfield with just over two minutes remaining. That turned into a five-point play after Blanchfield made both free throws and Cotton buried a triple on the ensuing possession.

In the blink of an eye, the Kings went from being down 79-77 to trailing by seven points with 2:06 remaining, and it was always going to be tough to come back from there, although the group showed tremendous character to keep fighting, led by Ware, who was magnificent in the second half and finished with 27 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Casper had seven points in the final two minutes to try and steal an unlikely victory, Craig Moller (12 points, five rebounds) hit a late triple and Jarell Martin (25 points, 11 rebounds) scored with 49 seconds remaining, but the Kings were forced to foul and the Wildcats made enough free throws to keep Sydney at bay down the stretch to run their season-high winning streak to eight.

Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings Head Coach Adam Forde was proud of his team’s effort on the night but frustrated by the officiating in RAC Arena.

“I’m definitely happy with the guys’ effort, especially to back up after our last performance at home against Perth, which wasn’t great, especially the second half,” he said.

“I’m frustrated because the message from the head of referees is that Perth do more right than they do wrong, so the marginal calls, the ones that are 50-50, fall in their favour.”

“We have to factor in a human element, and I get that. We saw the human element today. We had a local ref call a foul on what was a clean block by Casper Ware on Bryce Cotton, and it’s a one-point game at the time.”

“In the heat of the moment, when the game is on the line, there’s always the human element, and that’s the unfortunate thing.”

“It’s super frustrating when the boys give me that performance, but it’s still a result based on unfortunate calls.”

Dejan Vasiljevic backed up his coach’s words.

“I mean, it’s just frustrating,” Dejan said.

“We do all the little things like Fordey says, we outrebound Perth, we sustain our runs, then we get two questionable calls on the road and it changed the whole ballgame completely.”

“It’s frustrating, but I’m proud of the guys; we competed to the very end with nine players. There’s nothing else we can do now so it’s on to Brisbane.”

The Kings shot the ball at 46% from the field, were just 7 of 26 from three-point range and went to the free throw line 15 times, converting ten of those from the charity stripe – in comparison, the Wildcats, who were whistled for eight fewer fouls than Sydney on the night, finished a whopping 30 of 36 from the foul line.

Pleasingly, less than a week after being monstered on the boards by the Wildcats, the Kings won the rebound count 43-38, and they got an excellent performance from Didi Louzada, who dogged Bryce Cotton defensively all night, while a banged-up Brad Newley showed enormous heart to give Sydney good minutes off the bench and Craig Moller continued his recent outstanding form with another quality game in reserve.

Sydney drops to 9-10 with their tough defeat; Perth remains on top of the NBL ladder with a 14-4 record.

The Kings now return to Sydney for the backend of their Round 12 road/home double. On Saturday 3 April at 5:30pm AEDT, the team will face up against the Brisbane Bullets at Qudos Bank Arena. Tickets for Saturday’s game are on sale now via Ticketek.

Rise With Us Sydney.

PERTH WILDCATS 95 (Cotton 22, Mooney 20, Blanchfield 18)
SYDNEY KINGS 89 (Ware 27, Martin 25, Moller 12) at RAC Arena, Perth.

BOXSCORE