West Select Team fall short against Wildcats

The Perth Wildcats have opened their pre-season with a bang and have defeated the NBL1 West Select Team by 18 points in a high-scoring clash.

Perth fielded a near-full strength line-up for the clash with its NBL1 counterparts and proved irrepressible on offence over the course of the game, however, NBL1 West Select stayed within striking distance for the entire first half.

Club captain Jesse Wagstaff wound back the years as he approaches his 15^th NBL season and had scored 14 points in just nine minutes of action by half-time, but he emerged from the changing rooms with his left hand heavily wrapped in ice.

Jordan Usher proved his effectiveness at both ends of the floor and scored a team-high 16 points – tied with evergreen guard Bryce Cotton - while also pulling in four boards.

NBL1 West Select trailed by just seven points at quarter-time, and stayed within range of their NBL-level opposition right up until the final quarter.

It looked for a time like both teams were going to surpass the benchmark of 100 points in an offensively charged contest, however Perth tightened its defence in the final term to restrict NBL1 West to just 15 points in the final quarter.

Caleb Davis proved a handful for Perth on both ends of the floor with 19 points and a pair of steals, while Rowan Mackenzie finished with 14 points.

NBL23 Brisbane import Devondrick Walker was a late out for the side.

The highlight of the night undoubtedly fell the way of Next Star Alexandre Sarr with a monster dunk in the second quarter.

The two sides will face off again on Sunday night as the Wildcats continue to ramp up their pre-season preparation ahead of the Hungry Jack’s NBL Blitz.

PERTH WILDCATS – 111 (Usher 16, Cotton 16, Zunic 15, Wagstaff 14)
NBL1 WEST SELECT – 93 (Davis 19, Mackenzie 14, Nelson 12, Meunier 11)