Miracle man: Cotton stuns Kings at the death

The Adelaide 36ers came back from 14 points down to level the Championship Series beating the Sydney Kings 91-89 in the most dramatic of finishes with Bryce Cotton scoring in transition at the buzzer despite the best efforts of Torrey Craig.

The Sixers were back home in front of 10,058 fans at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre but up against it after a record Game 1 loss to open the series in Sydney on Sunday.

The 36ers were then leading by a point going into half-time and key to that was getting to the foul line 14 times after just six free throws the entire game on Sunday.

But Sydney pushed out to a 14-point lead in the third quarter before the 36ers responded with a three-point barrage to open the fourth and scores were level at 89-89 with 30 seconds to play.

It came down to the MVP and runner-up of the past two seasons with Kendric Davis missing his driving attempt to take him to 6/25 shooting.

The defensive rebound spilled to Cotton with 3.5 seconds remaining before he charged up the floor. He finished a tough layup with his left-hand despite the best defensive efforts of Craig to win the game for the Sixers and tie the series at 1-1.

Things then went up a level when Davis got in the face of Cotton was celebrating and the two had to be pulled apart.

Adelaide shot 14/38 from deep and 19/21 at the free-throw line with Cotton ending up with 28 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals while going 9/9 at the stripe.

Flynn Cameron added 17 points and five rebounds with 4/7 three-point shooting while John Jenkins went 4/8 from deep for 14 points and DJ Vasiljevic added 12 points, and Zylan Cheatham seven points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Isaac Humphries also had eight rebounds, six blocks and six points in his 20 minutes.

The Kings pulled down 21 offensive rebounds but couldn’t capitalise with Davis having to work hard for his 20 points with six assists.

Xavier Cooks had four of those offensive boards for 18 points and 10 rebounds with Torrey Craig having 17 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks but going scoreless in the second half.

Matthew Dellavedova hounded Cotton most of the night and had nine points, seven assists, five rebounds and two steals.

After combining for just seven points on 3/18 shooting in Game 1, Flynn Cameron and DJ Vasiljevic combined for Adelaide's first five points before the Sixers had the Adelaide Entertainment Centre rocking with a 10-0 run late in the first term to lead 25-21.

Sydney responded with the last nine points of the period starting with a second triple from Torrey Craig which saw the Kings up 30-25 by quarter-time.

Adelaide pushed out to a seven-point edge with Jenkins' second three ball but Sydney again responded and their 13 offensive rebounds for the half were paying dividends.

The Kings closed the half on an 11-6 run with the 36ers only maintaining their narrow 53-52 lead thanks to late triples from Cotton and Vasiljevic.

Sydney shot out of the blocks coming out of half-time with a pair of threes from Jaylin Galloway with them going on a 10-2 run to lead by seven.

The Sixers did steady with a couple of three-pointers from Cameron but the Kings again pushed out to a 14-point lead and Adelaide were lucky to only be down nine heading into three quarter-time.

The 36ers were hot to start the final period with a couple of three balls to Cotton and another to Jenkins to help them close within three.

Three free throws from Cotton shortly after had the margin back to one before Nick Rakocevic tied it up with one foul shot but Cooks returned Sydney to the lead with the next two buckets with the second after their 21st offensive rebound.

In the end with scores tied, Davis drove for the Kings couldn’t finish and the rebound spilled to Cotton who delivered the game winning finish in transition as time expired.

Game 3 will be back at Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday with one team looking to take a lead into Game 4 in Adelaide on Wednesday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL26 FINALS – CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES, GAME 2

ADELAIDE 36ERS 91 (Cotton 28, Cameron 17, Jenkins 14)

SYDNEY KINGS 89 (Davis 20, Cooks 18, Craig 17)

BOX SCORE

Best-of-5 series is tied at 1-1

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Cotton wins Game 2 for Sixers at buzzer