An emotional Bryce Cotton has led the Adelaide 36ers to a 12-point win against the Illawarra Hawks, Mike Wells’ side running over the top of the visitors at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Wednesday night.
The five-time MVP appeared under duress late in the game and was consoled by an assistant coach during a last-quarter timeout, but saw out the clash to help his side to a third win in a row.
Just days after dropping 41 points on the Cairns Taipans in an overtime thriller, Cotton was scoreless in the first quarter, then exploded for a game-high 31 points and 13 assists, with Isaac Humphries impressing yet again with 22 points and nine rebounds.
Cotton put the icing on the cake with a 13th assist setting up a huge Zylan Cheatham slam with just over a minute left in the game.
The 36ers held a seven-point lead after three quarters, having fought back with a 27-15 third term, but ranked last in the league for points scored in the last quarter (18.5) after 12 games.
But their final-term concerns didn’t return to haunt them, as they improved to a 10-3 record to tighten their hold on second spot.
The result made it an amazing 10 wins for the Sixers from their past 11 games against Illawarra.
The game finished with plenty of spice with JaVale McGee and Cheatham whistled for technical fouls and Nick Rakocevic ejected from the game after a scuffle with just over a minute left.
McGee was well-held by the Sixers, finishing with 12 points while Tyler Harvey drained a team-high 21.
The clash was Adelaide’s first Ignite Cup fixture, the NBL’s new in-season tournament played on Wednesday nights culminating in a standalone final for $400,000 prizemoney, with points accrued still counting towards the regular season ladder.
HOT & COLD COTTON
Cotton made a rare concentration error in the dying seconds of the first quarter when he fouled McGee as he threw up a Hail Mary from downtown.
Cotton sent McGee to the foul line for three shots, with the Hawk converting two of them to give his side a 22-21 lead at the first break.
It ended a quiet first quarter from Cotton, who was scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting, with fellow MVP candidate McGee also relatively subdued with four points.
Cotton quickly shook off his scoring funk early in the second, draining his first three three-point attempts, but with the home side edging ahead, QJ Peterson got hot.
The Hawks’ American import made three triples in a row, draining 11 points in the second quarter, to lead all players with 16 at halftime with his side going on a 9-0 run at one stage to lead by five points at the main break.
NICE, ICE
Humphries continued his outstanding season with 12 points to halftime and was important early in the third as the Sixers went on a 13-4 run.
The star centre had a couple of authoritative jams in the first half and added another six in the third.
Cotton threw a scare through the home crowd when he walked off court appearing injured with four minutes left in the third quarter, but he returned to feed Humphries with his seventh assist as the big man made it to 20 points.
To allay all immediate injury fears, Cotton drained his fifth triple soon after and saw out the game.
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150 UP FOR DJ
DJ Vasiljevic played his 150th NBL game and continued to adjust to a new role.
After starting the first 10 games of the season, he has come off the bench the past three and wasn’t part of the first rotation on to the court in the first quarter with Isaac White preferred.
Vasiljevic did make it onto the floor late in the opening term and immediately made his presence felt, draining his first three-point attempt from a long way outside the arc.
That would be his only bucket of the first half, Vasiljevic finishing with nine points.
Originally published as NBL Round 10 news, scores, results: Cotton leads Adelaide to win against Hawks
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