By Darren Snowdon
Some late-game heroics from young gun Luke Travers have inspired Perth Wildcats to a tight 77-71 victory over Illawarra Hawks as they opened the new NBL season with consecutive home wins.
Majok Majok and Corey Webster of the Wildcats contest for a rebound against Mangok Mathiang of the Hawks.Credit:Getty
The visitors held the lead for the majority of Saturday’s contest at RAC Arena before Travers produced a series of clutch plays at both ends of the floor.
It capped a 23-12 fourth-quarter charge as Perth joined Cairns Taipans and Sydney Kings on 2-0 to start the campaign.
Trailing by five points after three quarters, the home side opened the final term with an 8-0 run but Illawarra countered with Lachlan Dent’s triple and a Sam Froling dunk putting the Hawks ahead 68-63 with four minutes left.
But Travers returned to the game after a brief rest and made an immediate impact with a steal and assist for a Bryce Cotton three-pointer, before hitting a corner triple of his own to hand Perth a 69-68 lead.
The 21-year-old swingman quickly produced another steal and added two free throws following an unsportsmanlike foul from Deng Deng.
Mitch Norton of the Wildcats dives onto a loose ball during the round two NBL match at RAC Arena.Credit:Getty
Travers then set up Corey Webster for a wide-open three-pointer as the Wildcats scores 11 unanswered points to take control.
With Cotton being held to a quiet scoring night, Travers matched Mitch Norton with a team-high 14 points while adding seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.
“Obviously Bryce is going to get covered like that in a lot of the games,” Travers said after combining with Webster and veteran Jesse Wagstaff to make 5-of-8 shots from three-point range.
“So for everyone else, it’s just being ready to shoot whenever we’re open. Obviously, it’s gonna happen a lot with him.
“That’s just a mentality we’ve all got to have and yeah, lucky enough we knocked down some shots at the end.”
Wildcats big man TaShawn Thomas succumbed to an ankle injury in the opening minutes and is in serious doubt for Monday night’s clash with the Taipans in Cairns.
Rocked by the news of a season-ending knee injury to star guard Justin Robinson, the Hawks took it to the home side with George King drilling three long bombs in quick succession as the visitors pounced early and led by 11 points late in the second quarter.
But Perth’s defence lifted after halftime as Illawarra could only manage 22 points in the second half.
A lopsided free-throw count also went in the home side’s favour with 20 made foul shots compared with 6-of-7 from the Hawks.
While King impressed with his 25-point haul, coach Jacob Jackomas stressed the importance of bringing in a replacement for Robinson as the Hawks lost their second game of the season.
“We recruited Justin to be our, sort of like how we say it in footy terms, heartbeat. It’s a big hole for us right now,” Jackomas said.
AAP
