Wildcats thumped in Townsville
The Perth Wildcats face a brutal video review session in the coming days after suffering one of their heaviest defeats under Trevor Gleeson in Townsville today.
The Wildcats were handed a 102-80 hiding by the Crocodiles to finish their two-game road trip with a split record after beating Wollongong on Friday.
Gleeson has a 28-10 all-time record in charge of the Wildcats after taking over from Rob Beveridge and leading the team to the championship last season.
Today’s result was just the third time the Wildcats had been on the receiving end of a double-figure margin during Gleeson’s tenure and second time they had conceded more than 100 points in that time.
“It just wasn’t good enough,” captain Damian Martin said.
“It was dumb defence more so than anything.
“We’ll go back and watch the whole game – every possession – and get back on court to start focusing on Melbourne.”
After restricting opponents to 64 points or less in each of their previous three games, the Wildcats broke down at the defensive end, giving Townsville too many open looks.
The Crocs made them pay, shooting at 54 per cent from the field and 45 per cent from behind the three-point line.
The Wildcats were on the back foot after conceding 26 points in the opening term but managed to stay in the game until half-time.
It was all Townsville after that, with the home side blowing the game open with a 28-15 third quarter.
Steven Markovic (20 points) and Brian Conklin (18) led the charge for the Crocs, who had five players reach double figures on the scoreboard.
Jermaine Beal starred early and top-scored for the Wildcats with 18 points, but was not influential in the second half.
Matt Knight (14 points) and Jesse Wagstaff (13) made solid contributions, but the overall performance was sloppy from a Wildcats team that has set its standards much higher.
“We played selfish at the offensive end, forced up too many bad shots and defensively we were horrible,” Martin said.
“Townsville were great. They taught us a lesson.
“We’ll go back and have a look in the mirror. We’ve got no one to blame but ourselves.”
The Wildcats get their chance for redemption at home against Melbourne United next Sunday.
In today’s other games, Adelaide beat New Zealand 93-86 on the back of 34 points from Adam Gibson and Melbourne beat Wollongong 88-75 with 32 points from Jordan McRae.
Cairns are still unbeaten on top of the ladder following their 74-62 win over Sydney yesterday.
