THERE was a lot to like about Adelaide 36ers 80-83 loss to the NBL championship favourite Wildcats at Perth Arena on Friday, a victory only sealed in the final 20 seconds.
As far as losses go, this was about as good as fans could wish for considering the Sixers travelled without swingman import Jarrid Frye (ankle) and captain Adam Gibson (hamstring) was only definitively ruled out on game day.
Centre Luke Schenscher (back) also was only expected to play about 10 minutes and development player Daniel Sims probably thought he would spend the evening drinking in the sights of Perth Arena and listening to the roar of the 10,208 members of the "Red Army".
Instead Schenscher was wonderfully aggressive in 24 minutes with 13 points while Sims saw action in the first quarter as 36ers coach Joey Wright shuffled his team around to keep the Wildcats off balance.
While BJ Anthony's two quick fouls - one a complete phantom - were not in the game-plan, Schenscher stepping up was important and ensured Adelaide led by nine at one stage, quickly establishing it wasn't in Perth to go quietly to the abattoirs.
Daniel Johnson also stood out with an exciting display of poise and aggression for 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting and a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line.
Gary Ervin (14 points, seven assists) led like a battle-hardened general and Anthony Petrie worked hard for his game-high 10 rebounds.
"I thought we played a good ball game," Wright said.
That was an understatement. This was nothing like most opening round clashes and had the tempo and atmosphere of a final.
Perth import James Ennis showed many of his NBA-in-waiting wares in a 12-point first-quarter on his way to a 25-point game, the most scored by any player making a Wildcats debut.
He had threes, he had dunks, even his missed tomahawk dunk attempt was spectacular.
"It's probably not necessarily anything that went wrong," Wright said.
"But they hit five threes in the fourth quarter and our game plan was to try and take away Ennis' threes but give it to everyone else.
"(Jesse) Wagstaff hit a few to make the difference."
Wagstaff had two and Jermaine Beal two in the last quarter while Jason Cadee hit the 36ers' only bomb of the period.
With 20.5 seconds left, Perth nemesis Shawn Redhage scored a jumpshot from the free throw area to make it 83-80 and when Petrie's triple-attempt to tie it missed, the game was over.
Adelaide is at home on Saturday to Wollongong, which lost 73-92 to New Zealand in Auckland on Thursday.
The Sixers expect Frye and Gibson to both be available for the match, which is the first of six double-headers with the Lightning, who will host Logan in their WNBL clash.
