Batemon makes history as Bullets win big

James Batemon produced a record-setting 51-point performance and the Brisbane Bullets as a whole delivered their best showing of NBL25 to beat the Perth Wildcats 105-84 heading into the FIBA break.

The Bullets were back at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Sunday afternoon in the last NBL game ahead of the week's break and what they produced is a performance that every one of the 6086 fans in attendance will forever remember.

Once the Bullets hit the front in the second quarter they never looked back building on the lead the rest of the way to win by 21 points with Batemon remarkable for his 51 points with Brisbane now going into the week's break with a 4-6 record as a result.

It was a history-making performance from Batemon who finished with the 51 points on the back of shooting 19/28 from the field, 9/15 from three-point territory and 4/6 at the foul line to go with four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Batemon's performance was the most points scored by a Bullets player since returning to 40-minute games in 2009, his nine three-pointers were the most made by a Brisbane player in the 40-minute era, and he ties with Ebi Ere for 4th all-time points by a Bullets player.

It's only the second time since the NBL reverted to 40-minute games for the 2009/10 season that a player has reached the half-century behind Chris Goulding's 50 points for the Melbourne Tigers in 2014.

Afterwards, Batemon said he got nervous approaching 40 but was all good by the 50-point mark.

"When I looked up the scoreboard and the most nervous I've ever been honestly in basketball was shooting that free-throw when I had 39," he said.

"I was thinking, 'Man I'm about to get 40, I've never scored over 34.' That was crazy and once I got to 50 I knew it was good with the last free-throw.

"I can't really explain the feeling, I'm still up on a high right now and it's amazing the crowd kept giving me energy and the teammates. It was like I was in a movie, man, it was crazy."

It wasn’t a one man show either with Next Star Rocco Zikarsky scoring a career-best 13 points to go with seven rebounds with starting centre Tyrell Harrison (10 points, seven boards) battling foul trouble.

Keandre Cook knocked down four threes as well for 17 points along with five rebounds and five assists with Josh Bannan contributing seven points and nine boards, Isaac White three points, Tohi Smith-Milner two points and five rebounds in game 150, and captain Mitch Norton two points and six assists while playing stifling defense on former teammate Bryce Cotton.

After Perth scored the first four points, Keandre Cook and James Batemon landed three balls for the Bullets, and then Batemon kept going knocking down another soon after when pulling up after stealing the ball from Elijah Pepper.

Batemon hit a third triple shortly after and then Rocco Zikarsky provided an instant impact coming in after Tyrell Harrison had two early fouls with two buckets and a huge block on Bryce Cotton.

Despite all that, it was the Wildcats leading 26-25 by quarter-time but with the first five points of the second frame, the Bullets were in front and that's where they would stay the rest of the contest.

That included Brisbane scoring 10 straight points on the way to half-time before going into the break on top 47-39 with 22 points and four threes already to Batemon's credit.

Even though the 'Cats started the second half on an 8-3 run, it didn’t take long for the Bullets to take back control and Batemon added four more three-point bombs in the first six minutes.

When Isaac White also came on to land a triple, Brisbane's lead was out to double-figures and it was still 74-65 by three quarter-time.

The Bullets then put the contest to bed to start the fourth quarter with the first eight points and six of those were from Batemon and all inside the three-point arc this time.

It became party time down the stretch with Cook knocking down three triples in the fourth quarter and then Batemon finished things off in the dying seconds with a three-point play to get over the 50-point barrier.

The Bullets now go into the FIBA window with a 4-6 record after the opening nine rounds and will resume the season against the Wildcats as well albeit at RAC Arena on Friday November 29.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

BRISBANE BULLETS 105 (Batemon 51, Cook 17, Zikarsky 13)

PERTH WILDCATS 84 (Pinder 27, Cotton 13, Webster 11)

BOX SCORE