Perth's big guns Bryce Cotton and Vic Law have blitzed Illawarra for the second time in a week, as the Wildcats shot down the Hawks 94-80 in their NBL clash in Wollongong.
The classy imports combined for 52 points, with guard Cotton keeping Perth in the contest in the first half and forward Law triggering their decisive second half surge on Thursday.
Cotton scored 13 of his 28 points in the second quarter, as the Wildcats overcame a ten-point deficit to lead 46-44 at the half.
Law, who finished with. 24 points, had just six at the halfway stage, but took over the game in the third quarter.
He scored eight points inside a minute, as the Wildcats turned a three-point deficit into a five-point lead, and Perth never trailed again.
"He makes the big shots when we need it and the one thing I like about him is he plays both ends just as hard," Cotton said of Law.
The Wildcats took a ten-point buffer into the last quarter and it never dipped below nine.
Perth coach Scott Morrison said his team still had lots of room to improve.
"But the guys laid it on the line and locked in when it counted," Morrison said.
"You've got to find ways to win and its definitely easier when guys like Bryce are knocking down a bunch of threes and you can throw the ball to Vic late in the clock to get a bucket."
Hawks' coach Brian Goorjian said his side had match-up issues when it came to containing the dynamic Perth duo, who combined for 46 points in last Saturday's 94-78 win at the same venue.
The Wildcats shot at 52 per cent from the field and had 10 blocks, with Matt Hodgson rejecting four shots.
Veteran shooter Todd Blanchfield supplied valuable offence off the bench, scoring 14 points and missing just one of his four three-point attempts.
Antonius Cleveland was a stand-out for Illawarra with 22 points, but they shot just 37 per cent from the field.
Perth (7-2) moved a win closer to ladder leaders Melbourne United, while the Hawks (5-4) stayed fourth and have yet to beat any of the three teams above them on the ladder.
"They (Perth) are right there to win the thing, I think you are going to have to go through them especially if they get anything going at home," Goorjian said.
Morrison wasn't dwelling on the uncertainty over any home games for Perth caused by the WA borders remaining shut.
"There's no more road games or home games. It's not about your record at home or on the road - there's just games. So that's how we're going to approach it," Morrison said.
Illawarra finished 2-3 in a five-game home stand across the last two weeks, with their other loss in that time coming against ladder-leading Melbourne.
"If you said who are the two best teams in it right now, it's Perth and Melbourne and I've seen those uniforms a lot lately," Goorjian said.
