Melbourne Tigers centre Chris Anstey iced a strong game with some clutch foul shooting in the final term to steer his side to their first win in five NBL matches against the Perth Wildcats in Melbourne.

In a see-sawing final quarter, the Tigers trailed by five points at one stage before finishing with a 16-4 run to win 86-79.

Guard Darryl Corletto topped the scoring with 23 points, including 14 in a strong second half, while Anstey scored 22 points, as well as pulling down 21 rebounds to be the dominant player on the court.

Melbourne had looked to have the game in the bag when they led by 16 points, the biggest margin of the match, with less than two minutes to play in the third term.

But the Wildcats made a huge charge late in the third quarter and early in the fourth to take the lead.

It was no coincidence that Anstey was on the bench as Perth started their run, having been the dominant player in the first half.

He was at his best in the second quarter, when he had 11 points, five rebounds and two blocks to help Melbourne to a one-point lead at the long break.

But, he was given a spell late in the third term and early in the fourth after picking up his fourth foul.

Two three-pointers by Perth guard Adam Caporn in the dying moments of the third quarter started their comeback, reducing the margin to 12 points at the last change.

The Wildcats came out firing in the last quarter, with Shawn Redhage and Jeff Dowdell each scoring two-pointers, before a classy drive by Caporn cut the margin to six.

By midway through the quarter, Perth had levelled at 70-70.

A three-pointer from Jeff Dowdell gave the Wildcats the lead, before guard Gerard Brown added two more points to make it a 75-70 lead, with Perth having gone on a 21-4 run from the start of the quarter.

But from that point, the Tigers took over, making some clutch baskets to score the next 11 points.

McDonald made a three-point play, including a shot from the foul line, to spark the run.

Anstey made two foul shots, then McDonald and Darryl Corletto followed up with three-pointers to put Melbourne up 81-75 with 1.45 on the clock.

Perth managed to reduce it to a two-point game with one minuted to play and were still within three when Caporn missed an attempt to level the game with 16 seconds on the clock.

He missed, Anstey grabbed the rebound, and was fouled, before sealing the game by making both shots, with Corletto adding another two in the final seconds to stretch the final margin.

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