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Corey Webster erupted against his old club to lead the Perth Wildcats to a notable victory at Spark on Saturday night.
At Spark Arena, Auckland: Perth Wildcats 92 (Corey Webster 26, Brady Manek 18, Bryce Cotton 17), NZ Breakers 84 (Barry Brown Jr 27, Dererk Pardon 13, Tom Abercrombie 10). 1Q: 20-27; HT: 43-47; 3Q: 73-66.
The Breakers’ social media team might have to take this ‘L’ on the chin after a misguided attempt at banter backfired on them badly at Spark Arena on Saturday night.
The league-leading Kiwi club had put a post on Instagram leading up to this clash, shall we say poking some fun at former player Corey Webster who is now with the Perth Wildcats. It did not go down well, with the veteran Tall Blacks star responding with some choice words in reply and two Breakers players also remarking that the post was ”off”.
The post was subsequently removed, but the damage was done. An already angry Wildcats outfit, who came in with a 5-7 record and on a two-game losing streak, were by all accounts seething over the cheeky missive that equated Webster to a cat emoji. Webster, who helped the Breakers win three of their four titles, clearly had a dose of get-even on his mind.
To no one’s surprise, Webster was brilliant as he led the Wildcats to a momentous 92-84 victory with a team-high 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting, and 2 of 6 from beyond the arc, to go with 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. That is what you might call payback.
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The one-time world-class shooting guard, now in the twilight of his career at 34, produced a wind-back-the-clock display when his team needed it most as they improved to 6-7 for the season. Wildcats coach John Rillie surely sensed it was coming as he promoted Webster to starting duty for the game, and after a quiet first half (6 points) the veteran Kiwi erupted with a 16-point third quarter as the Cats stormed to a 73-66 lead on the back of a 30-19 term.
Webster did have some help. Brady Manek found his shooting stroke late (with three straight triples in the final period) to finish with 18 points and 6 boards. He knocked down 4 of his 7 attempts from deep, as the visitors went 6 of 10 from beyond the arc in the second half. Bryce Cotton weighed in with a quiet 17 points on 3-of-11 shooting.
The Breakers will be gutted as they saw a five-game win streak snapped and drop to 11-4 for the season. It is their third defeat at home this season.
Barry Brown Jr kept his hot scoring going with a game-high 27 points on 10-of-21 shooting. He would have been less pleased with his 6 turnovers. Dererk Pardon added a double-double of 13 points and 14 boards, while Tom Abercrombie chipped in with 10 points.
The Breakers threatened to cut loose multiple times during the first two periods, but could not shake the determined, and desperate, visitors as they hung tough to trail by just four (47-43) at the major break.
The home side had looked likely through the opening stanza, knocking down 5 of 10 triples to lead by as many as 11, and 27-20 at the first break. It was a similar story in the second term, the Breakers back out by double-digits, but the Cats clawing back to get as close as a single point over the final minutes.
The Breakers were playing well enough – they shot 50% from the floor for the half and made 7 of 18 triples – but the Wildcats made all 11 of their free-throws and made just enough shots to stay with the Kiwi club who got 12 first-half points from Brown and 7 apiece from Brantley, Pardon and Le’afa.
But Perth’s persistence paid dividends over the run home, as they stormed into the lead behind Webster’s hot shooting in the third and steadied behind Manek to quell a late Breakers fightback.xxx
