Perth Wildcats smash Cairns Taipans as Jo Lual-Acuil and Kristian Doolittle star, then big scuffle broke out

Tensions have boiled over in Cairns after the Perth Wildcats stormed back into form with an emphatic 110-78 victory over the Taipans.

The Wildcats dominated the match from the outset despite losing their past two games, being without injured import Dylan Windler and still not having a replacement for the sacked Mason Jones.

Jo Lual-Acuil jnr and Kristian Doolittle seized control of the contest and lifted Perth to a thumping win.

But all eyes were on the aftermath as a scuffle broke out when Admiral Schofield confronted Perth’s Lat Mayen. Lual-Acuil quickly came to defend Mayen and things boiled over, with players from both teams having to be separated.

Cairns coach Adam Forde said he would have preferred to see his team showing fight during the game.

“It’s kind of too little, too late. It’s a funny group, but they care,” Forde said.

“I just want to see it rather than all in one hit, maybe we space out that anger over 40 minutes and it turns into a level of focus to be aggressive and get through screens. It would be worse if they don’t care and quit.”

Lual-Acuil was superb with 24 points and three blocks. Kristian Doolittle also tore Cairns apart. He scored 18 points and won eight rebounds.

Elijah Pepper also scored 18 points, while Ben Henshall and Jaron Rillie finished with 10 points each. Rillie moved into the starting five for the first time in his career.

Perth led by 14 points during the first quarter, extended that to 19 points in the second period and then blasted clear by 26 points in the third term.

“It was the first game this season where we’ve had contributors across the floor,” Wildcats coach John Rillie said.

“We had five guys in double figures. Dave Okwera had big offensive rebounds in the third quarter, Noa (Kouakou-Heugue) in and was a nice spark for us but it also helps when you make shots. Its amazing what that can do for your confidence.

“It was really nice to get Doolittle into a good rhythm. Everyone in the league knows what he means to our team. To get him going really early for us is a huge piece to it all.”

Jesse Wagstaff suffered an accidental elbow to the face which left him bleeding heavily but Rillie said there were no concerns around concussion.

Pepper revealed a team dinner on the night before the game had been a good bonding moment for the team after two losses.

But the Wildcats also changed how they played. Having taken 43 three-point shots against Sydney, they reduced that to only 20.

Rillie said they’d seized every opportunity.

“It was purely situational. Everyone on our team did a great job of living in the paint,” he said.

“Once you get in the paint, we did some good stuff out of that. JLA gets on the rim but then we had a number of kick out threes. Some of the games, our shot quality wasn’t at the same level that it was tonight.”