Basketball On The Internet.

BARELY midway through Round 2 of NBL 2026-27 and Perth's Elijah Pepper tonight conjured the most amazing shot of the season, a 3-point banker under extreme pressure from Adelaide's Bryce Cotton in his milestone 300th game, securing a stunning 98-97 win for the Wildcats.

Cotton, huge in his landmark NBL appearance scoring a season-best 37 points (7-of-12 threes) and doling out nine assists, fouled Pepper on the Perth guard's frantic heave, sending him to the free throw line for a bonus.

But even with 1.9 second left and after the drama of the preceding 90 seconds, Pepper chose the safest (smartest?) option and deliberately missed the shot, leaving the 36ers insufficient time to manufacture another miracle.

The match was a cracker, as might have been predicted of Trevor Gleeson's first return to where he steered the Wildcats to half of their 10 NBL championships.

Factor in the Cotton 300 and all elements were in place for a memorable encounter. Yet this was so much more, Zylan Cheatham (21 points at 67 per cent, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) in everything early and Nick Rakocevic (20 points at 53 per cent, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block) a constant threat.

What Rakocevic could not do was effectively restrict Perth pivot Jo Lual-Acuil (21 points at 57 per cent, 11 rebounds, 2 assists) as the home team sped to a 10-point lead at the first break, only to see it erased by halftime, scores locked 48-48.

Pepper, an average Kristian Doolittle and a struggling Dylan Windler battled gamely as the 36ers took control in the third, but this would turn into Anthony Dell'Orso's coming out party as he went on a scoring spree to turn the match around.

Dell'Orso, unsighted last round, delivered 20 points at 75 per cent, dished six assists, his confidence igniting Windler to a stronger finish.

With 1:28 left, Windler's drive and floater gave Perth a 93-88 edge, fooling some into thinking it was home, Adelaide taking time-out.

At 1:24, Cotton rolled to the top of the 36ers' offensive key, caught and swished a triple between two desperate defenders for 91-93.

A Pepper miss led to a Rakocevic defensive board and Cheatham, fouled with 52.9 seconds left, converted both penalties to tie it at 93.

Windler fouled out at 29.6 from an offensive foul. Cotton to Rakocevic to a naked John Jenkins at the wing led to another 36ers' 3-point swish and a 96-93 lead, 8.6 seconds remaining.

Lual-Acuil then was fouled by Cheatham, the shot clock showing 7.0 seconds which was amended to 8.0 as the Wildcats centre knocked down both free throws.

At 6.9, Jacob Rigoni had the spotlight, fouled on the inbounds pass, that time amended to 7.5 seconds as he aborted his first free throw but sank his second for 97-95.

Then came the insane play by Pepper which ensured this particular match between these longtime rivals once again would join a long line of classic encounters.

Earlier in Melbourne, United stampeded South East Melbourne, which had one of the club's worst shooting nights on record.

The Phoenix shot the ball at 27 per cent from the floor and were 4-of-41 from outside the 3-point line, though they managed to stay competitive into the final quarter, courtesy of their defensive efforts.

Dash Daniels opened the scoring and SEM was a mere 10 behind at 59-69 into that final period. It then had several opportunities to cut further into the deficit but failed dismally. With the amount of bricks they fired up, the club could have built a new venue in the city's south east.

United scored 17 unanswered points to lead 86-69 before Daniel Foster gave the Phoenix just their second field goal of the quarter to make the final score 71-86.

Josh Oduro continued to flourish in the final quarter as United essentially took care of business.

Phoenix coach Josh King opened his post-game press conference by apologising to the fans for the performance and promising the team would do better.

It's a fair claim as it would have been hard to shoot worse.

Round 2, Thursday

Melbourne United 86 (Oduro 21, Anthony 18, Goulding 17; Travers 10 rebs; Anthony 6 assts) d South East Melbourne Phoenix 61 (Aliir, Mays 10, Daniels 9; Hunter, Schwartz 7 rebs; Mays 5 assts) at John Cain Arena.

Perth Wildcats 98 (Pepper 25, Lual-Acuil 21, Dell'Orso 20, Windler 16, Doolittle 12; Lual-Acuil 11 rebs; Dell'Orso 6 assts) d Adelaide 36ers 97 (Cotton 37, Cheatham 21, Rakocevic 20; Cheatham 9 rebs; Cotton 9 assts) at RAC Arena.

Friday: Illawarra at Brisbane