Phoenix Finish Season by Breaking the Wildcats' 35 Year Streak

Phoenix fans can swap the disappointment of missing the finals for being the team who snapped Perth's 35 year finals streak. With everything to play for the Wildcats failed to beat a Phoenix team motivated by their chance to create history.

Perth, under new ownership this season, needed to win to keep the streak alive, but an overtime victory to the Phoenix meant that the longest streak in Australian sporting history was over.

(Phoenix end their NBL22 season with a big win over the Wildcats in overtime.)

The Result

Phoenix 102 v Perth 100

The Numbers

Phoenix
Xavier Munford  24 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists
Brandon Ashley 17 points, and 6 rebounds.
Kyle Adnam, 14 points, 4/4 from three.

Wildcats
Bryce Cotton 28 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists.
Matthew Hodgson 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The Turning Point

Kyle Adnam's third 3 of the final quarter gave the Phoenix a 6 point lead, and while the game did end up going to overtime, those three buckets were pivotal.

(Phoenix ended Perth's consective series after 35 years, allowing the JackJumpers to jump into the finals ion their first year.)

The Player of the Game

Xavier Munford controlled the pace of the game from the tip, finishing with 24 points, six rebounds and nine assists. 

The Play of the Game

With four seconds left in the first quarter a missed shot from Cotton led to a fast break with Munford flying up the floor. He dropped it off to Gliddon who missed the lay up under pressure before Dane Pineau flew in for the tip just before the buzzer sounded.

From the Coach

Simon Mitchell

"We shared a struggle and now we have a tremendous victory that we can all share. I thought we were up against some tremendous odds out there tonight, we overcame…the odds and we have something now we will reflect upon. I'm a proud coach right now."

From the Player

Brandon Ashley

"It's bittersweet, we went on streak of losing some close games and you look back at those and think if we got one or two of those it's a completely different story for us right now." 

(From us to you Phoenix fans, THANK YOU for NBL22 season! Bring on NBL23)

Phoenix Media (24/4/22)