The Perth Wildcats will look to write the next chapter of their post-season fairy tale in the NBL semi-finals after crushing the Wollongong Hawks 121-101 at the Sandpit.

Defying the odds to win their second elimination game on the road in the space of 48 hours, the Wildcats were in control at half-time, and had the game wrapped up by three-quarter-time.

Tipped to be the first team eliminated from the play-offs, Perth will go in against Melbourne with plenty of confidence after their mammoth frontline fired en masse, blotting Wollongong out of the game.

The raw statistics for once told the real story, with the Wildcats smashing the Hawks 63-33 on the board.

It led to a brilliant night for their inside scorers, posting a 65-36 advantage over Wollongong's inside men, with import Shawn Redhage at the forefront.

Redhage was simply unstoppable, racking up 20 points by half time, with 12 coming in the second quarter.

He abused Wollongong's much-hyped defence in quarter number two, displaying his extensive range of post moves in just six minutes of court time.

Redhage got a much-deserved early mark with the game in Perth's safe keeping, finishing with a stunning 32 points on 12 of 17 shooting, with 13 rebounds chipped in.

As impressive as he was, Perth coach Scott Fisher will appreciate the significance of the return to form of centre Matt Burston.

With the menacing figure of Chris Anstey looming large in the semis, Burston signalled he will be a significant factor with a 16 point, eight rebound display.

Wollongong looked strong in the first quarter, holding a seven point lead with three minutes remaining, but a 14-5 closing run by Perth gave them a 31-29 advantage, and they were never behind again.

Matt Shanahan owned the last minute of the quarter, hitting three points, and with just six seconds on the clock finding Liam Rush for the go ahead lay-up.

Perth reduced the Hawks to training fodder, winning the next two quarters 35-22 and 31-21, before giving up the last to Wollongong 29-24 when the result was beyond doubt.

The Wildcats' confidence will now be justifiably sky high, with significant contributions coming across the board.

Peter Crawford was the second top scorer for the Wildcats with 18, after scoring just two in the first quarter, and point guard David Bailey added 17.

Just as impressive was Shanahan, who finished with 10 points but controlled the game for long stretches of time, and was rewarded with eight assists.

Without their injured star Glen Saville, Wollongong spent the night searching for answers, with their most significant contributions coming from Cortez Groves and Adam Ballinger with 23 points apiece.

"We didn't feel that Wollongong had the interior defenders to stop our inside guys," Perth coach Scott Fisher said.

"The focus and intensity we have right now is something we've been searching for, for probably two years now.

"I think we can give Melbourne some troubles, because we feel like we have some momentum going."

Wollongong coach Brendan Joyce pinpointed the rebounding battle as the Hawks' downfall.

"I don't think there's any doubt that the rebounding side of things was the huge difference," Joyce said.

"It's the key element to winning finals, and it's probably been our achilles heel the whole year.

"It's a bitter pill to swallow, because we probably surprised everybody to get to the position we are in, but we didn't capitalise on it tonight."

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