Isaac
Years ago

Funny Sixers scrape home against Wildcats

The Adelaide 36ERS snuck home at the Distinctive Homes Dome this afternoon with a 95-93 scoreline, after four very even quarters against long-time rival Perth.

It was captain Brett Maher who got it done when it mattered, scoring 9 points in the final term to finish the game with 23 points and 7 assists. Typical support came from Dusty Rychart who had 22 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists.

Willie Farley (16 points, 5 rebounds), Oscar Forman (15 points, 6 rebounds) and Jacob Holmes (13 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists) rounded out the home scorers with double figures. In the absence of sidelined centre Paul Rees, David Cooper filled almost 39 minutes with 6 points, a game high of 16 rebounds, and 5 blocks.

The Wildcats were playing without injured big man Matt Burston and the signs early were ominous. Rashad Tucker failed to score in the opening quarter and took much of the second to open his account. Only two three-point baskets from Tony Ronaldson and 7 points from Matt Shanahan kept Perth in the hunt.

All six scoring Sixers got on the scoreboard in the first period with Rychart doing most of the early damage, and Holmes picking up an early three-point play in his attempts to regain form. Tucker travelled on consecutive plays to have the home crowd jeering his efforts. Best play of the term was Farley's behind the back pass to an open Maher and a predictable three point shot made. At the first break, the Sixers had the lead, 27-22.

In the second period, fortunes reversed after the first few minutes. Forman added another three and then had a layup on a back door cut after an excellent passage of play courtesy of Maher and Rychart. This was soon followed by a Farley dunk on the break for the photographer. With Adelaide up by 12 points, it looked like the game's result could be obvious. Perth, however, rallied with support from much of the team.

The Perth highlight for the term was undoubtedly Tucker's alley-oop pass to Rosell Ellis to bring the Wildcats to within three points. But Farley answered with consecutive threes and then another jump shot to give him 10 points in the quarter and an opportunity to lead all scorers with 12 at half-time.

At the main break, the Sixers held the narrowest of leads, 49-48, despite shooting 44% from the field to their opponents 49%. The near-even scores were also reflected on the boards with an equal count of 26 apiece. The Sixers continued their excellent tradition of minimising home turnovers, holding the edge after 24 minutes, 7-10. Main scorers at half-time: Farley 12, Rychart 10, Forman 10. For the Wildcats: Ronaldson 11.

After half-time, Maher caught fire, hitting three quick shots to move to 14 personal points. Rychart got an offensive board and put-back to extend his own tally, before a Maher behind the back pass on the break found Holmes who made a pressured two-handed dunk. Holmes had the next bucket also to move his scoreline to 9.

Tucker was the response for the 'Cats, getting loose on the break and throwing down a smooth one hander to have 16 for himself, and even the teams at 64-64. It wasn't a pretty closing to the quarter for the home team who looked sluggish without Farley on the court. Adrian Majstrovich picked up 8 points in the quarter and he, along with Tucker (10 in the period) was an instigator in keeping things close. At the three-quarter break, the Sixers maintained their one point lead, 73-72. Five players for Adelaide were in double-figures: Rychart 16, Forman 15, Maher 14, Farley 12, Holmes 11.

The final quarter was one typical in a game where neither team has the edge or luck to snatch a comfortable lead. Adelaide barely outscored Perth 22-21 for the term, but it was enough to hold the lead. Maher's 9 points were important, but Cooper's defensive rebounding was crucial.

With five minutes to play in the game, the Sixers gave up 5 quick points and, with the score at 88-87, the crowd was restless. Two timeouts for the Wildcats and a warning to Perth benchman Dallas Jeffrees for unsportsmanly calling out twice to distract Cooper during free throws only prolonged the nail-biting finish.

Two more shots from Maher gave the Sixers a 93-91 lead in the dying seconds. Before the second shot, desperate and smothering defense in the key at the other end from Adelaide stopped Perth from drawing level. A charging foul called as Tucker drove into the key on Farley meant the Sixers had possession, a 93-91 lead and a time-out to draw up the final play plan.

The Wildcats fouled Maher immediately and after he made both baskets, they picked up a basket with seconds to spare. There was, however, no time for anything more and Adelaide held on for a 95-93 finish.

Adelaide 95: Maher 23, Rychart 22, Farley 16, Forman 15, Holmes 13, Cooper 6.
Perth 93: Tucker 23, Majstrovich 16, Ronaldson 15, Ellis 12, Crawford 11.

FG%: 41-47
3P%: 38-44
FT%: 65-46

Rebounds: 54-46
Fouls: 15-22
Assists: 26-18
Blocks: 8-0
Steals: 7-3
Turnovers: 12-16

Boxscore

Topic #1247 | Report this topic


HALO 2  
Years ago

win is a win - perth has been in good form !

Reply #14190 | Report this post


K. Hernandez  
Years ago

David Cooper...what a pick up. Rebounds, Blocks, Defence. Blue Collar Stuff, really impressed me.

Reply #14192 | Report this post


Jasmine  
Years ago

Cooper was superb. His energy around the basket on defense and his rebounding was really something to watch.

Brett Maher made every big play for the Sixers in that final minute. The nice finger roll to tie it up, the tough jumpshot for the go ahead basket and the two free throws to put the game out of reach for the Wildcats. Clutch!

Reply #14194 | Report this post


Keith Hernandez  
Years ago

Clutch alright!
Now I know why Goorjian used him so much in Athens where "clutch" was required....Oh wait....!

Reply #14195 | Report this post


sc  
Years ago

Those three big fellas sitting in the top south-east corner of the stadium had a fair set of lungs on them.

Between them they managed to get a chant going around the entire stadium in the final minute. If I was sixers admin I would have offered them a free ticket to come back and be that loud at the next game.

Better still, get them in the cheersquad! They are exactly what the cheersquad lacks - a few people with a huge set of lungs to gee-up the rest of the crowd.

Reply #14208 | Report this post


The K Man  
Years ago

Was there a pun intended in that last line SC?, because i thought their "lungs" were pretty good.

Reply #14216 | Report this post


Isaac  
Years ago

The cheersquad and cheerleaders are different groups and sit at opposing ends of the court.

Reply #14217 | Report this post


The K Man  
Years ago

Well SC is obviously quite right given i didn't know they existed! Well pointed out.

Reply #14218 | Report this post


Isaac  
Years ago

Here's Boti's write-up of the Sixers vs Perth game.

And of the Lightning game.

Reply #14219 | Report this post


Good team effort all round from the sixers. Great contributions from everyone made for a real team effort to defeat the league leading Wildcats... even if it was with a little home court help. Having said that, there were dubious calls both ways... thats sport.

The highlight of the game for me [from a sixers fans perspective] was Holmes dunk in transition... from my viewpoint there was quite a bit of attention on him... WOW, get up there white boy!

Reply #14234 | Report this post


EC  
Years ago

If you have ever been in the audience of a television studio when a show was being made, the audience participation is achieved firstly by giving a few instructions at the beginning of the show and then holding up placards when the audience needs to come in. This could be quite useful in getting the cheer squad chants performed by the entire crowd. Can you imagine the awesome sound of everyone in the audience continously chanting "Let's go Sixers, Lets go" or "Defence followed by 3 claps." We should try this, it would be a lot of fun with everyone doing it. Perhaps someone in the cheersquad could be responsible for holding the placard up when they want the entire audience to come in.

Reply #14314 | Report this post


sc  
Years ago

The "defence" chant was what the guys I mentioned got going on Sunday. I couldn't really tell whether the other end of the stadium was involved but it was pretty loud at the Eastern end. It sounded awesome with everyone in on it.

K-Man - I certainly hope that these guys had no aspiration of joining the cheerleaders! I definitely meant the cheerSQUAD! I for one have no desire to see a beer-bellied 40 year old bloke join the cheerleaders!

It doesn't really surprise that you've never noticed the cheersquad - they are pretty damn lame.

Reply #14335 | Report this post




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