Silverdome delivers yet another Tassie thriller

There was more drama than a season-finale of Neighbours and it was the Cairns Taipans who emerged victorious in a 70-68 thriller over the New Zealand Breakers in Launceston, Tasmania on Friday.

The bottom-placed Snakes were clinical for three quarters, leading by as many as 19 points and denying the Breakers any opportunity to graft their way back into contention. 

That was until the final quarter when New Zealand exploded out of the break with a 13-2 run that put them back to within a single point and plenty of time on the clock. At one point Tom Abercrombie even stole the lead for the Breakers for the first time in the match.

It was Jordan Ngatai who stopped the rot, stroking home a triple to put his side up by three, but there was still almost two minutes left on the clock though and it was going to be a photo finish.

Finn Delany was the architect of the New Zealand comeback with 23 points and 14 rebounds and he added to his tally along with Corey Webster (15 points, six rebounds, seven assists) stroking home free throws to once again put New Zealand back on top with just 23 seconds remaining.

Enter Tad Dufelmeier. The 25-year-old had been rewarded with his first career start in the NBL and found himself with the ball in his hands at the most important moment of the match - and he delivered with the match-winning triple.

Or was it? The drama-meter went into overdrive when new Taipans recruit Venky Jois appeared to block Webster but was called for a goaltend. 

The scores were locked at 70-all, but the play was sent for review and overturned. The Breakers still had the final possession, but Levi Randolph could not find the bucket to send the match into overtime.

While the guards had the final say on the match, NBA and NBL veteran Nate Jawai turned back the clock again in his 150th match for the Taipans. The crowd favourite big man had 21 points and eight rebounds as he comprehensively out-pointed his opposite Colton Iverson (eight points, six rebounds). 

Dufelmeier finished with 14 points (including the three that mattered the most) while Scott Machado was the perfect general with 13 points of his own and eight crucial dimes to help engineer the win. 

Cairns coach Mike Kelly wasn't getting carried away with the win but praised his most recent additions to the team in Dufelmeier and Jois for playing their role in sealing the result.

"I knew New Zealand wouldn't stop playing hard and once they got a sniff they really started getting downhill, getting to the basket and into attack mode - we took a backward step," he said.

"Tad has been working to get this point, to being in an NBL game, to meaningful minutes and he has been really good for us in training. 

"We've seen what he can do, it's been tough for him. He got his opportunity and has taken it with both hands.

"The same with Venky, he came in to do a job and he came in with great energy and really got us going."

Kelly reserved special praise for Jawai in his milestone match.

"Nate was great," he said.

"I am really proud of him, he stepped up and that was his highest minutes of the year.

"Then he wanted to come back and finish the job and had a nice play towards the end and was involved in all of that. I was really happy for Nate tonight."

Breakers coach Dan Shamir was highly disappointed with the result. He praised his side for getting back into the match with their grind and lock-down defence but lamented their offence which caused them to fall just short.

"With the exception of the second quarter, we got good results defensively," he said.

"It wasn't a perfect game ... (defence) was not what our problem was, it was just a very bad day offensively.

"Three from 20 from the three-point line, games like that, low scoring, they made one more play than us, very disappointing."

Rudolph was not able to put his finger on why the Breakers were so stagnant in offence for much of the match.

"We just couldn't get the ball to fall," he said.

"They got a big lead early, we were able to fight back but offensively we just didn't get into that groove that we have in the last couple of games."

It was a clunky start from both teams who went 0/3 from the field to open the match before Machado finally opened the scoring after two minutes of play with a long-range effort that was on target.

After almost five minutes of play, the Breakers had just two points to their name. Even though the Taipans weren't doing much better, they did grind their way to a six-point lead. It was far from a shooting clinic, but Cairns managed to take a 12-10 lead into the first break.

Someone needed to find their range and it was Cairns that fired the first shots, Mirko Djeric and George Blagojevic hitting triples to push their advantage out to double digits. 

Every attempt to blast their way back into the match was failing for the Breakers who sunk to 0/14 from long range as the Taipans lead swelled to 13. There were moments where New Zealand threatened a comeback, but Machado led his Taipans through the grind and to a 39-25 half-time advantage.

It was more of the same in the third quarter as the Breakers just couldn't find any rhyme or rhythm. Colton Iverson was the only player showing any resistance but he collected his fourth foul in the quarter and was forced to take a seat.

With the Breakers misfiring worse than a Datsun with decade-old sparkplugs, attention had to turn to the defensive end. For a spell, it worked as the Taipans buckets dried up. But it meant little as New Zealand just couldn't find the bottom of the net.

The Breakers refused to give up the fight and after trailing by as many as 19 points, a late three-point play from Rasmus Bach cracked the door open as the margin closed to 12 at the final break.

New Zealand proceeded to kick the door in as the stunned Taipans were reduced to spectators at their own funeral. With less than four minutes on the clock, the Breakers finally found the lead for the first time.

But young Dufelmeier will never forget this match on the Apple Isle as he secured victory for his side as they look to restore pride down the stretch of the NBL season.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 15

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 68 (Delany 23, Webster 15, Iverson 8, Loe 8)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 70 (Jawai 21, Dufelmeier 14, Machado 13) 

BOX SCORE