Cairns go down to the unbeaten Perth wildcats at Perth Arena

The Perth Wildcats have kept their 7-0 unbeaten record alive at home in a win over the Cairns Taipans 75-68. Damian Martin was a monster on defense making life miserable for one of the best back courts in the league in Demetri McCamey and Jamar Wilson. Cairns were having trouble just getting the ball over half way for most of the match and Martin just kept picking up steals and intercepts finishing with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. James Ennis continued to show his skill making some big highlight dunks and some classy moves around the rim finishing with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. For the taipans Alex Loughton top scored with 14 points followed by McCamey with 13 points and 4 assists but had 5 turnovers.

Despite some big effort plays from Jamar Wilson the Cairns Taipans looked stagnant and didn't want the ball as much the Wildcats.  The play of the game happened late in the first quarter when Damian Martin made a steal and got the ball up to Jermain Beal who lobbed it up for a big James Ennis dunk. 

For the last points in the half James Ennis breaks Steven Weigh’s ankles with a nice fake going to the rim and has an easy little lay up and the score is 40-36. Cairns have been lucky for the score to be as close at it is with Martin dogging the Taipans on defence and Jermain Beal and James Ennis filling in the offence. 

Shawn Redhage got his 4th foul in the first minute of the third quarter and i think he played as many minutes as he had fouled through the game. The refs may finally be picking up the rough play he has been famous for. The Taipans did well on defence to try to keep James Ennis from using his exceptional athleticism by keeping him on the floor but some nice fakes from Ennis and he keeps getting his shots up.

The Cairns Taipans again come out hitting shots in the start of the last quarter with Cameron Tragardh hitting a jumper and Alex Loughton hitting a 3 and the score was tied 60-60. Each quarter Cairns played well in the first 2 minutes and died through the quarter mainly due to the smothering defense from Damian Martin. Tom Jervis had a big game with at least 4 blocks that weren't attributed to him. Between him and Matt Knight the Wildcats are going to be strong at the center position. In the dyeing minutes of the game Cairns were down and had to foul to stop the clock but had 0 fouls at the time so they lost preciouce mintues to get up to five fouls. When they finally get to the fifth foul the ref lets an arm grab go and martin gets the ball to Matt Knight for a jump shot to seal a game that must have been painful for the Taipans. 75-68. 

The Perth Wildcats in my opinion are becoming the Miami Heat of the Australian NBL. They have the big 3 in Damian Martin, Jermain Beal and James Ennis and they play a very exciting style of basketball, also unless your from Perth you want them to lose. But i dont mind watching them. Im really looking forward to the Sydney Kings vs Perth wildcats game next week with the supposed Ennis stopper in Sam Young coming into the lineup for the Kings.

Perth Wildcats 75 (Ennis 22, Beal 13, Martin 12)
Cairns Taipans 68 (Loughton 14, McCamey 13, Weigh 10

Here's a link to the alley oop highlight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8oPwqQdFOc&feature=youtube_gdata