James Ennis feeding off crowd as he continues to fire for Perth Wildcats Perth's James Ennis flies to the hoop on Friday night. Picture: Marie Nirme Source: News Limited FORGET the game plan, the X's and O's, and the scouting of the opposition. Wildcats high-flyer James Ennis has a far simpler strategy that underpins the side's success at Perth Arena. "Once I do a dunk, everybody gets wild, and we just get hyped and start going on (scoring) runs," he said. And so it was on Friday night, where the Cats fed off the delirious crowd following three first-term Ennis slams to lead from start to finish in the 95-91 triumph over New Zealand. Of greater concern for coach Trevor Gleeson, however, is the battle his side has faced in 'killing off' its opponents over the past fortnight. For the second straight fixture, Perth let the opposition back into the contest after holding a significant lead late in the game. Last week against Cairns, the Cats led by 9 in the dying stages of the third term before allowing the Taipans to force overtime. And on Friday night, Perth relinquished almost all of a 12-point three-quarter time advantage to set up a nail-biting final minute in which Ennis emerged as the hero. Gleeson said his side's underwhelming 65 per cent clip from the free-throw line over the past two games was an aspect that needed improvement as the Wildcats look to close games out. "You've got to take those opportunities when they come and don't give the other team a chance to get back in," Gleeson said. It's virtually a turnover if you miss two foul shots. It looked like we got tired and stagnant (late in Friday's game) - we weren't sharp like we were in the first quarter. We'll go through that process in the review, and (assess) if we have to rotate a little bit heavier than we did. I thought we kind of got bogged down, and that's New Zealand - they do that physical game, and I thought they did that to get back in. They played at their pace and it wasn't really the pace we wanted to play at. Make no mistake, however: The Wildcats are rolling. Leading the league with an imposing 11-1 record, the WA side will look to round out a near flawless first half of the season when they meet the Breakers in Auckland on Friday night ahead of the Christmas break. Gleeson said he was confident his unit would continue to improve ahead of one of the league's toughest road trips. "We're still a young team," Gleeson said. We've played 12 games (together) now, and we're playing against a team that's been together for five years, have won three championships in a row and know each other pretty well. This team is still young and still developing, and we've got to go through that to learn and get better. After averaging 30 points in his two outings against the defending champs this season, Ennis said he expected a renewed defensive effort from the Breakers in Auckland. "I think they're going to do the same thing as (Friday) - pressuring me and trying to get the ball out of my hands," he said. But it's not about one-on-one play. We have a good team and everybody can score, so they're going to have to stop our whole team. Breakers coach Dean Vickerman said his team would look to adjust its defence to limit the outside impact of Jermaine Beal after the American guard tied a franchise record with eight three-pointers on Friday night.