Bryce Cotton’s revenge game left hearts broken at RAC arena on Sunday night, with the Wildcats losing in a nail-biting one point loss.

Despite the agonising ending, Cotton’s return to RAC Arena was welcomed with a standing ovation and ‘MVP’ chants before tipoff. 

Cotton made a layup on the buzzer to bring Adelaide within three points at the end of the first quarter, leaving the scores at 25-22.

Perth’s Wildcats built on their lead throughout the second and third, holding a promising 18-point lead at the end of the third quarter. 

Still leading by 14-points with four minutes left on the clock, poor shot selection and fouling allowed the 36ers to capitalise and eventually cut the lead down to six points with two minutes left. 

A layup from Flynn Cameron put Adelaide in the lead 15 seconds from the final buzzer, and they were able to hold on to defeat Perth 95-94.

Wildcat’s Assistant Coach Ben Peterson spoke to SportFM this morning, mentioning the costly effect minor mistakes can have at the end of the game.

“Bad shot selection, fouling and them making plays… it was a bit of a snowball affect for us in terms of minor mistakes adding up,” he said. 

“It wasn’t just the last four minutes that we made mistakes, you look at it throughout the game.

“It’s just a learning experience and we’re happy that it’s happening in December so when it comes to February and March we’ll be prepared for these moments.”

Peterson isn’t letting one loss taint the season Perth is having at the moment, with the Wildcats defeating top of the table team Melbourne United in a convincing win last Thursday. 

“Melbourne united doesn’t lose games like that very often so to come out and put together that kind of performance was awesome and it shows you the strides we’re making in the right direction,” he said.

Kristian Doolittle put on a show for Perth fans, shooting 50 per cent from the three point line and finishing the game with 17 points.

Peterson said Doolittle is confident and he is shooting well at the moment, adding that he ‘always impacts the game far beyond the stat sheet’.

The Wildcats host the Sydney Kings on Friday before their three home game stretch comes to an end, heading up to Brisbane on Sunday to face the Bullets.

IMAGE: Perth Wildcats