West Sydney coach Mark Watkins thought his NBL team's situation couldn't get worse but the Perth Wildcats shattered that belief.

The Wildcats survived a spirited fightback to defeat West Sydney 103-94 at the Olympic Park Sports Centre to extend the Sydney team's losing streak to a record nine and cement them in second last place on the NBL ladder.

Perth restricted the Razorbacks to a mere 12 points in the opening quarter, their second lowest total since a disastrous 11 against Newcastle in October 1998.

During the first half, West Sydney turned over the ball 17 times compared to six by Perth who lead 52-33 at the main break.

Very little worked for the home team. They hit the woodwork, had deflections divert to the opposition, and had the ball stolen seven times.

"They put a lot of pressure on us in the first quarter and we lost the game through turnovers and errors," said West Sydney coach Watkins.

"We had a chance to over run them but couldn't match them down the stretch. Rhys Carter fired us up and got us going."

It was the third meeting this season between the teams and the third win for Perth.

West Sydney fought back in the second half with strong performances from top-scorer Pero Vasiljevic with 25 and Carter 23.

Carter, who scored only five points in the first half, was unstoppable in the second session, along with Vasiljevic as West Sydney produced its best performance of recent weeks.

They outplayed Perth 27-22 in the third quarter and 34-29 in the final session and kept Perth to only one scoring shot in the opening five minutes of the last quarter.

West Sydney had fought back to trail by only two points midway through the final quarter after being 26 points behind in the third quarter.

"They went for it and it was wild out there for a while," said Perth coach Scott Fisher.

"We've finally got a win on the road after four losses. It is a very important part of the year and we need to play to our potential to make the playoffs."

The battle between point guards James Taylor (West Sydney) and David Bailey (Perth) kept the action fast as each struggled to gain dominance.

But Bailey, who scored 20, had the better support from Matt Shannahan who had a match high 30.

West Sydney had the better figures of 57-31 in rebounding and took 10 more scoring attempts than Perth but failed to put the ball in the basket when it counted.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP