Taipans young guns step up to take down 36ers in Cairns

A brave Cairns Taipans have snapped a three-game losing streak to mow down the Adelaide 36ers 91-88 at Cairns Pop-Up Arena on Wednesday night.

Cairns entered the match undermanned with star import Scott Machado joining regular starters Majok Deng and Kouat Noi on the injured list even with Adelaide still minus Isaac Humphries and import Tony Crocker.

Adelaide stormed out of the gates and led by as many as 16 points in the second quarter and still led by 10 in the third before they were overrun by a gutsy and spirited Taipans outfit the just refused to say die.

The game looked over when the Snakes led by seven points and had the ball in their hands with little more than a minute left on the clock. 

Some rash attempts to seal the match allowed Adelaide to stay in touch and when Sunday Dech stole the ball and scored to cut that margin to three points, a timeout was called and a thrilling final 20 seconds was assured.

Jack McVeigh had plenty of Cairns supporters feeling nervous when he completed a four-point play from the foul line to cut the margin to just one point with 13 seconds left on the clock. Josh Giddey and McVeigh both had chances to send the match to overtime but their long-range attempts were off target.

In the absence of Machado, fellow import Cam Oliver was enormous with 25 points and 16 rebounds to lead the young side to victory. 

Jordan Ngatai chipped in 15 points while rising star Mojave King had 14 points and five rebounds. There were contributions across the court with Nathan Jawai (13 points) and Tad Dufelmeier (12 points, five assists) also drawing praise.

Cairns coach Mike Kelly credited the resilience of his side to keep their composure and hold on for the win.

"There was a little bit of toughness defensively down the stretch," he said.

"I was just happy to see the boys sticking to it and playing through some tricky situations."

Kelly admitted there were some choice words spoken when Adelaide was ahead by 16 but praised his troops for finding a way back.

"It was about trying to take away some easy looks for them," he said.

"The guys did a much better job of it in the last 2.5 quarters. Offensively we just kept it simple and player with pace. It was really about getting stops and attacking with pace."

Daniel Johnson came up big again with 26 points, five rebounds and four assists while McVeigh had 22 points - but was left to rue the crucial shot that was missed in the dying seconds. 

Brandon Paul had 18 points and six rebounds, but left commentators speechless when he turned down an open look from the right corner to steal overtime, instead dishing off to McVeigh. 

Adelaide coach Conner Henry refused to be drawn on Paul passing up the shot, saying "it really shouldn't have come to that point".

"We got a couple of good looks at it, we weren't able to tie it up again and that was unfortunate," he said.

"Whether BP takes it or is unselfish and gives it to Jack, that is the point here. We got ahead of ourselves.

"We got away from a lot of the good things that we did against Illawarra and Perth."

Henry said that Humphries was getting closer to a return and would travel to meet the team in Melbourne.

"Each day the reports I am getting is that he is putting more load on the foot every day and he is recovering nicely," he said.

"We need him to get through two or three training sessions and when he recovers, we will run him out there."

Cairns opened with plenty of energy but couldn't find the baskets to match their possession. Even as Adelaide air-balled two triple attempts the home side struggled to kick clear and it was all even on the scoreboard midway through the first term at 9-9.

Oliver was making statements in the paint but Johnson was hitting them from range and at the low post as he guided the 36ers to a 20-13 lead, an advantage extended by a late Jack McVeigh triple which had them ahead by nine points at the first break.

That early heat check sparked McVeigh as he set about brutalising the Cairns defence, rushing out to 12 points and pushing their lead out to 16. Any thought of the Taipans rolling over was quickly put to bed as they pulled out an eight-point tear of their own to slash that margin in half.

Oliver's toil on the boards was paying off for the Taipans and King made a statement dunk of his own suddenly the lead was just two points. At one point Cairns even nosed their way in front and they went into halftime well in the contest, trailing 48-45.

Adelaide kept threatening to extend their lead but Cairns just refused to go away, scrapping and fighting until a four-point play allowed them to draw to within two points after trailing by double digits on more than one occasion.

It was primed to be a dogfight in the final quarter and both teams obliged, with the lead see-sawing as both teams competed like dogs on a bone. 

The match was primed for the taking and it was the Taipans who bit first, Tad Dufelmeier and Jarrod Kenny nailing back-to-back triples to push the home side out by five. That lead was never headed and the Cairns crowd had a rare moment to celebrate in what has been a challenging season.

Both teams now have a second game in Round 14 on Saturday with the Taipans taking on the Kings in Sydney while the 36ers tackle the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Melbourne.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 14

CAIRNS TAIPANS 91 (Oliver 25, Ngatai 15, King 14)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 88 (Johnson 26, McVeigh 22, Paul 18) 

BOX SCORE