Another Perth Wildcats season has come to an end in the semifinals, with Sydney Kings notching a 14-point victory at RAC Arena to secure a clean sweep of their series.

Ben Henshall (20 points) did all he could but Kristian Doolittle (15) and Jo Lual-Acuil (nine) being below their best left the Wildcats without the firepower to match the minor premiers, who came away 89-75 victors to secure their progression to the grand final series.

Sydney will now have the chance to play for their third championship since they met the Wildcats in the COVID-abridged 2020 grand final series, while Perth have gone no further than the semifinals since 2021.

For the Kings, MVP runner-up Kendric Davis (27 points) was not efficient amid some excellent defence from David Duke Jnr but did enough to keep his team’s offence afloat with support from Makuach Maluach (23).

The Kings started the game white-hot, making six of their first nine shots — including three of four from beyond the three-point arc — to open up an early nine-point lead.

Stringing together some stops on the defensive end allowed Perth’s offence to come alive, with Elijah Pepper making a catch-and-shoot three in the closing seconds of the first term to give them their first lead of the night and cap off a 12-3 run.

Pepper opened the second quarter in the same fashion and Jesse Wagstaff followed up with three-pointer on their next possession, but Sydney were able to make enough shots to stay afloat as Doolittle and Lual-Acuil struggled to impose themselves.

Henshall was the star of the term, drilling a late long shot to cap off a 17-point first half and ensure the Wildcats took a three-point advantage into the main break.

Doolittle showed some signs of increased aggression by pulling up and nailing a three-pointer with the first possession of the second half but both he and Lual-Acuil’s struggles continued in the third term, which was typified by the centre missing a lay-up after managing to spring himself loose.

Only 30 points were scored in a third quarter in which both teams struggled to find the bottom of the basket and disaster looked to have struck for the Wildcats when Henshall limped off in the final minutes.

A made three-pointer from Jesse Wagstaff figured as Perth’s only made field goal through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter until Henshall returned to drill another long shot of his own.

But Davis, who found his range in the final term, immediately responded in kind as the visitors did enough to hold off Perth’s desperate attempts to come back in the closing minutes, with the result all but sealed when Torrey Craig blocked a Doolittle three-pointer in the final minute.