Perth have made the most of home comforts to outlast a road-weary Illawarra and post a 111-100 NBL win over the Hawks at RAC Arena.
The 11-point victory on Saturday was Perth's second in a row after Thursday's win over Tasmania and lifts them up to sixth on the NBL ladder.
"We talk about quite a bit when you play the game with the effort that the game requires all the time - it's amazing how things turn out for you," Wildcats coach John Rillie said.
"Like a couple nights ago, second-half 50/50 balls was a big thing. Tonight it was just staying with it and competing on every possession, both as an individual and then as a team. And you create your own advantages in those moments, and that's what we did."
Defeat ends a gruelling five-game, 15-day road trip for the Hawks during which Justin Tatum's team were able to pick up three wins to kickstart a season that had failed to ignite beforehand.
It wasn't for a lack of fight however as the Hawks matched the Wildcats throughout and pulled five points clear with less than a minute to play after Tyler Harvey flushed his third triple of the final quarter.
Player of the match Kristian Doolittle, however, denied the visitors with a huge three-pointer of his own with just 9.2 seconds remaining to force the match into overtime.
Doolittle, who scored 29 points, punished the Hawks ill-discipline as they gave up 28 fouls with Makur Maker, Davo Hickey and Milton Doyle all fouling out as the Wildcats scored 28 points from the free-throw line to the Hawks' 15.
"It's difficult when you don't have some of your best players on the floor, but next guy up, next guy step up, and that's what those guys did," Tatum said.
"They did their best. I'm proud of my group. Extremely. Looking forward to going home."
Maker was strong for the Hawks with 21 points and nine rebounds while Kelan Martin had 19 points off the bench including a huge triple later in the fourth term as both teams traded leads. Doyle also contributed with 16 points while Sam Froling notched a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Doolittle was ably assisted by Dylan Windler, who posted 22 points, a game-high 11 rebounds and four steals.
The Hawks will be back on their home court on Thursday when the Adelaide 36ers visit WIN Entertainment Centre.
Perth will look to post a third-straight win heading into the FIBA break on Friday in Cairns against the Taipans.
