Winning without Bryce Cotton was always going to take a huge effort from the Perth Wildcats and that is exactly what they got, inspired by Keanu Pinder to beat the Sydney Kings 87-84 at RAC Arena.
Pinder opened the NBL season with 29 points and rediscovered that form on Friday night to end up with 34 on 11-of-18 shooting from the field and 11-of-13 at the line to go with four rebounds and four steals.
He lifted the Wildcats to beat the Kings on the back of collecting 27 offensive rebounds for 26 second chance points to overcome shooting 36 per cent from the field and 5-of-33 from downtown.
Pinder received impressive support from Next Star Izan Almansa with 14 points and six rebounds with Elijah Pepper adding 11 points, and Kristian Doolittle nine to go with 14 rebounds.
"It was a great performance from the standpoint we just stuck with it as far as not playing beautiful basketball, and it wasn't pretty at moments," said coach John Rillie.
"But we stuck together as a group and weathered storms, they got some momentum at different periods, but we just stuck with it and when you show fight and consistency like that, you give yourself a chance."
That was despite the combined 39 points, 20 rebounds, eight assists and six blocks from Xavier Cooks (22 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, three blocks) and Cam Oliver (17 points, nine boards, three blocks) for the Kings.
Kouat Noi chimed in with an impressive cameo with 15 points including three late triples to give his team a sniff.
Kings coach Brian Goorjian was anything but pleased with his team's efforts. "Anything that involved energy, they didn't beat us on, they dominated us," he said.
"It's how you lose at this stage, not losing and you can progress and move forward but still lose. You can win and not play well, we lost in a very poor way."
While the Kings were without former MVP Jaylen Adams, the 'Cats were up against it without their starting backcourt of Cotton and Tai Webster, but were a motivated outfit led by Pinder from the outset.
Perth only shot 36 per cent from the field with 2-of-16 from deep in the opening half, but they did have 15 offensive rebounds for 14 second chance points.
At the other end, the Kings shot 54 per cent as a team, despite just the three offensive rebounds, to lead 44-41 at the break.
Pinder was feeling it, though, and scored 11 points quickly to start the second half helping Perth to lead by as much as nine in the third term.
A Pinder three ball pushed the 'Cats out to a seven-point edge again in the fourth but the Kings would not go away and it was eight quick Noi points, including two three balls, that restored their lead.
Doolittle's three-point play that put Perth back on top in the last minute and from there they won by three to steady their season at 3-4.
