Brilliant Bullets win big out west

Tyrell Harrison and Casey Prather dominated, but also got plenty of help with the Brisbane Bullets putting together a standout 40-minute performance on the road to beat the Perth Wildcats 110-93.

The Bullets arrived at RAC Arena on Wednesday night for their first Ignite Cup match up against the odds, but were a group on a mission and that was clearly on show right from the start against the Wildcats.

Brisbane raced out to an 11-2 start to the game and by half-time that had turned into a 56-48 advantage with Prather and Harrison combining for 27 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 63 per cent as a team.

That lead then grew to 19 points in the third quarter and 23 in the fourth before the Bullets secured the eventual 17-point victory while also winning all four quarters to claim all seven points on offer for the Ignite Cup.

There was a lot to like in what the Bullets did to end up shooting 54 per cent overall with 12/26 at 46 per cent from downtown while also outrebounding the Wildcats by 14, and having 15 offensive boards to nine.

There was no mistaking the dominant performances of Harrison and Prather. Harrison finished with 27 points, 15 rebounds and three assists on 13/18 shooting with eight of those boards at the offensive end.

Prather also ended up with 34 points, 10 rebounds and three assists with 11/18 shooting from the floor and 3/5 from downtown.

It was far from a two-man show, though, with Tristan Devers having the best performance of his NBL career with 15 points, three rebounds and three assists with Alex Ducas enjoying his homecoming west with 14 points, four steals and three boards on 4/8 three-point shooting.

Taine Murray also had 12 points with 3/3 shooting from deep with Lamar Patterson celebrating his 100th game for the Bullets with seven points and six assists while Jaylen Adams responded well coming off the bench to have six assists in 17 minutes.

It was a tremendous defensive performance from the Bullets to limit the Wildcats to shooting 44 per cent from the field and 10/34 from three-point range with Mason Jones finishing with 19 points, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr 18, Dylan Windler 12 and Ben Henshall 10.

The Bullets had a horror start back on Saturday against the Illawarra Hawks but came out motivated to turn that around and they raced out to an 11-2 lead in the opening three minutes when Alex Ducas knocked down a triple in his home state.

Ducas knocked down another three in the first term and Taine Murray hit another for the visitors, and Lamar Patterson completed a three-point play which saw the Bullets on top 26-21 after one despite a couple of three balls to Perth from Lat Mayen and Ben Henshall.

The Wildcats started the second period well with a 10-2 run to grab the lead but Brisbane steadied with a couple of strong makes to Tyrell Harrison.

Tristan Devers then made a couple of three balls, and Casey Prather and Murray landed another each before half-time with Brisbane heading into the main break on top 56-48 with 63 per cent shooting as a team to just the 45 from the Wildcats.

Under-pressure import Mason Jones was trying to will Perth back into the game in the third quarter with 10 points and a couple of three-pointers, but Brisbane continued to have the answers to be up nine still by three quarter-time.

Brisbane opened up the fourth quarter with an 15-4 run too to push aside any Wildcats thoughts of a fightback as they cruised to the morale boosting 17-point win on the road.

The Bullets now have the immediate turnaround to return home on Friday night to play host to the undefeated Melbourne United at Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26 – IGNITE CUP BY DISNEY+

BRISBANE BULLETS 110 (Prather 34, Harrison 27, Devers 15)

PERTH WILDCATS 93 (Jones 19, Lual-Acuil Jr 18, Windler 12)

BOX SCORE