Todd Lichti did his best but couldn't contain the back court duo of Gaze and Copeland.

Gaze Rips Apart Perth

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 1998 at 5:38 PM ET

Andrew Gaze scored 45 points including 9 three pointers as the Melbourne Tigers improved tp 4-0 with a 15 point humbling of the Perth Wildcats at the PEC. Gaze was amazing and with 24 points in the first quarter, he was all set up for a huge game. But it wasn't all one way traffic, the Wildcats gave as good as they got, leading in the early stages. Ricky Grace (in his first game back from injury) was outstanding early and Todd Lichti was also on song. But the freakish scoring of Andrew Gaze was too much to handle, his four point play and then his long bomb to end the quarter had the visitors leading at the first change 38-27. In the second quarter the Wildcats came back at the Tigers, and with Gaze held to just 5 in the quarter they looked in good shape. The second quarter was highlighted by a huge dunk from Perth veteran James Crawford. But even Crawfords acrobatics were not enough to get them in front, 52-52 at the half.

The Wildcats were in a punishing mood early in the third quarter, Paul Rodgers getting his share of boards and making the most unbelievable plays of the year. The ball bounced of his arm and was sent spiraling up and into the hole. And when Ricky Grace nailed 5 straight at the end of the third they lead 87-82. But the final quarter belonged to Andrew Gaze and the Melbourne Tigers. Marcus Timmons and Lanard Copeland getting into the act and blowing the cats out in the last minute. Mark Bradtke was also huge in the fourth quarter was a handful of boards. Andrew gaze was the star though, finishing with 45 points and nine bombs to lead the Tigers in both catagory's. Lanard Copeland continued his good run of form with 26 and Marcus Timmons dropped 22. For the 1-3 Wildcats, Ricky Grace scored 22 in his comeback game and Todd Lichti and Andrew Vlahov had 16 a piece.

Video:  Andrew Gaze finishes the first quarter with a 24 foot trey to bring him up to 24 points.
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