Elijah Pepper sank a banked-in three-pointer with 1.9 seconds remaining to give the Perth Wildcats a 98-97 win over the Adelaide 36ers at RAC Arena on Thursday night, spoiling Bryce Cotton's 300th NBL game.
Cotton, playing his first game back at his old home ground since moving to Adelaide, scored 37 points with nine assists and four steals and was on court for all but seven seconds of the match. It was not enough to prevent the 36ers falling to defeat.
The night also marked the first return to RAC Arena for Adelaide coach Trevor Gleeson, who led the Wildcats to five NBL championships before taking charge of the 36ers. It was his first time coaching against the club he once ran.
Perth started fast, leading 30-20 at the end of the first quarter as Anthony Dell'Orso scored nine points and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr added eight. The Wildcats shot 12 from 19 from the field in the opening term, compared with 6 from 18 for Adelaide.
Adelaide hit back in the second quarter, outscoring Perth 28-18 as Cotton reached 13 points for the game. The 36ers carried that momentum into the third quarter, turning a 15-point deficit into a 13-point lead.
Zylan Cheatham finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Adelaide, while Nick Rakocevic added 20 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Perth were missing import point guard Brandon Knight, and Adelaide were without Flynn Cameron and Isaac Humphries.
The Wildcats had lost their previous game to the South East Melbourne Phoenix and trailed by 13 points at RAC Arena before rallying to set up the finish.
Trailing by two points in the final seconds, Perth saw Cotton pressure Pepper as he brought the ball up the floor, fouling him just as he released the winning three-point attempt. Pepper deliberately missed the resulting free throw, aware that a make would have left Adelaide needing a full-court heave rather than a clean look at the basket.
"I thought Bryce was playing pretty good defence there, but probably put his hand in the cookie jar," Gleeson said of the foul that sent Pepper to the line.
Cotton played for the Wildcats from 2017 to 2025, winning three NBL championships and five NBL Most Valuable Player awards, before joining the 36ers. He added a sixth MVP award with Adelaide in 2026.
Gleeson led Perth to five championships during his time as head coach before moving to take charge of Adelaide.