Brilliant Bryce Cotton was unstoppable in the clutch, expertly helping the Perth Wildcats steamroll the Adelaide 36ers 98-90 in their NBL clash at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
Cotton (32 points) took control when the game was up for grabs on Friday night, aided superbly by Corey Webster (22) and import TaShawn Thomas (22) who enjoyed his finest NBL performance.
Cotton rifled 11 points inside the last two minutes as the Wildcats scored 17 of the last 23 points to turn a three-point deficit into a relatively routine margin of victory.
Captain Mitch McCarron (20 points, 13 rebounds, six assists) had a whopping nine offensive boards and was valiant for the home side, doing his best to honour club legend Daniel Johnson in his milestone 400th game.
The victory saw Perth leapfrog Adelaide into sixth spot and shorten their odds of a finals berth.
The 36ers' offence was humming early, the home side shooting 65 per cent, racking up a season-best 10 first-quarter assists and winning the rebounding battle 11-6 to lead 25-20 at the first break.
Perth improved their defence in the second term, during which the lead changed hands five times.
Thomas was proving a difficult cover in the paint, before Cotton drained a triple over Hyrum Harris on the halftime bell to break the deadlock and give the Wildcats a 49-46 buffer.
The momentum swung back Adelaide's way in the third, a 13-2 barrage inspired by Robert Franks helping the home side recapture the lead before Perth pinched it back late to lead narrowly at three-quarter-time, 69-68.
Antonius Cleveland's two triples, Mitch McCarron's inspirational offensive rebounding and Anthony Drmic's hard defence had the crowd buzzing and handed Adelaide the lead before Cotton, in ice-cold style, spoiled the party.
