Basketball: Adelaide make it eight straight

Nathan Sobey of the Adelaide 36ers looks to pass during the round 12 NBL match between the Adelaide 36ers and the Perth Wildcats. Photo / Getty Images

The Adelaide 36ers have tightened their grip on first place in the NBL, sending arch rival Perth Wildcats packing after a gritty 78-74 win on Brett Maher Court on Thursday night.

Nathan Sobey, with a game-high 24 points, six rebounds, an assist, two steals and three blocks was named match MVP.

Trailing 59-60 with a period to play, the 36ers' defensive resolve was at its best, containing Perth to two points during a withering and decisive 13-2 run.

Jerome Randle (22 points, three assists), schooled Corbin Wroe for the go-ahead basket.

A Randle drive and dish to Daniel Johnson (11 points, eight rebounds) was a key three-point play and Randle's follow-up triple had Adelaide ahead 72-62.

Wildcats imports Casey Prather and Jaron Johnson led them back to within four, the Sixers clinching it from the free throw line.

"Our last quarter, we played really good defence," 36ers coach Joey Wright said.

"We need to tidy up the last couple of minutes.

"Sobey was big for us tonight.

"He's done a great job and is always aware of the defence out there.

"His intensity and his deflections were important."

The game was physical and nasty, with the referees dishing out technical fouls and Anthony Drmic suffering an eye scratch from an errant Jesse Wagstaff hand.

First half momentum shifted to the Wildcats when Randle, rightly riled after heavily being fouled by Wagstaff and again manhandled on the 36ers' next attack, collected a foul in Adelaide's next defence.

When referee Vaughan Mayberry hit him with a technical foul for dissent, Perth used the distraction to push further ahead, Prather with its next six points.

That was despite emphatically having shots blocked by Matt Hodgson and Terrance Ferguson during his sequence.

Johnson and Sobey held the fort in Randle's absence but Jaron Johnson and Prather had pushed Perth ahead 44-41 by halftime.

ADELAIDE 36ERS 78 (Sobey 24, Randle 22, Johnson 11) PERTH WILDCATS 74 (Johnson 21, Prather 18)