Heartbroken Perth Wildcats players and coaches will be forced to watch the NBL grand final series knowing they were denied a crucial two points after a late missed goaltending call in a game which they lost by just one point.
The Wildcats lost game three of the NBL semifinal series 113-112 to Melbourne United in what could be the last match fans see Bryce Cotton play in the NBL. He will now consider his future and is expected to receive massive offers to play overseas.
But the high-scoring shootout could easily have been a Wildcats win. Ben Henshall was denied two points from a goaltend by Marcus Lee with 2:33 remaining and scores level.
Henshall’s shot touched the backboard and was above the rim before Lee got his hand to it.
Rubbing salt into the wound, Lee was then fouled just five seconds later and made a free throw to put Melbourne in front.
“I had a view of it but I’ll have to put the game on my computer and make sure my eyes were telling me what I felt in that moment. It’ll be interesting reviewing.” Wildcats coach John Rillie said.
Melbourne scored the next five points after that incident and still led by that margin inside the final minute before Cotton made it a one possession game and then Jesse Wagstaff tied the scores. Wagstaff made a high-pressure three-pointer with 2.9 seconds remaining.
But Melbourne called a time-out, advanced the ball and executed a perfect play to get the ball to Chris Goulding. He was fouled by Henshall with 0.8 of a second left and won the game with a free throw.
Rillie said his team is devastated.
“You saw our team throughout the season just fight and find ways to win and give yourself a chance to win,” Rillie said.
“That was a tremendous character trait of our team. They got up five with a minute to go. The way we pursued that one possession and offensive rebounds. Wags hit the big three to tie it up. That last minute, you can’t ask for anything more to give yourself a chance like that. Great series. It’s disappointing we’re the losers of it.”
Cotton was superb with 33 points, five rebounds, six assists and three steals. He scored 16 points in the first quarter to put Melbourne under pressure. Rillie didn’t want to discuss Cotton’s future after the game.
Kristian Doolittle was also outstanding with 37 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
“Once he returned from his injury, he’s shown that he is deserving of a few more accolades and credit around the league,” Rillie said.
“That blows my mind. that guy shows up to work every day and does it at a pretty elite level and gets overlooked for a lot of things in my opinion. He’s unbelievable.
Melbourne will play the winner of Wednesday night’s game between Illawarra and South East Melbourne and attempt to go one better than their grand final loss last season.
Ian Clark stepped up for Melbourne, scoring a career-high 38 points. Chris Goulding also had a night out with 30 points, including nine three-pointers.
It was the second time in as many years that the Wildcats have lost in game three of a semifinal series. Rillie said his team had improved a lot and done a wonderful job to overcome injuries throughout the season. But nothing will dull the pain of a finals loss.
“We were very close to sitting here talking about being in the championship series. If you look in my time, I think we’re progressing nicely through that,” he said.
“At the end of the day, we’re here to win and we didn’t do that. Then you look at everything and what could we all do a little bit better to achieve that. You saw that on display in the fourth quarter of game two. Nothing is going to trump the final result.”
https://thewest.com.au/sport/basketball/perth-wildcats-lose-to-melbourne-united-in-nbl-semifinal-and-a-missed-goaltending-call-was-pivotal-c-17927022
