Brave Taipans can't quite close deal in Melbourne

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans did plenty right and were inspired with a career-best Kouat Noi performance, but Melbourne United finished strongly to score the 88-81 NBL Cup win in Melbourne on Monday night.

The Taipans came into the contest at John Cain Arena on the back of their best form of the season to finish their string of home games with a win over the New Zealand Breakers before opening the NBL Cup on Saturday with a strong come from behind win over the Illawarra Hawks.

The Snakes then continued on that momentum for a lot of the game against a Melbourne team determined to bounce back from the first loss of the season on their home court on Monday evening.

The Taipans scored the game's first eight points and then went on another 10-0 first-quarter run to take control of the contest.

The Snakes were still up seven by half-time on the back of 17 points from Kouat Noi while limiting Melbourne to 31 per cent shooting from the field and just one free-throw attempt.

The Cairns advantage grew to double-figures in the third quarter even though Majok Deng had been ruled out from returning after hobbling off with a leg injury.

The Taipans were still to the good by four points with seven minutes left, but couldn’t quite sustain it. Melbourne took the lead for the first time in the game on the back of their own 8-0 run and from there never surrendered it to claim the seven-point victory.

Despite the result not falling the way of the Taipans, there was a lot to like in a performance that they were largely in control of for the opening 33 minutes.

Noi had the best night of his NBL career with 27 points, five rebounds and two assists on the back of shooting 10/20 from the field and 3/7 from three-point territory.

"I'm just focusing on keeping on getting better," Noi said. 

"I continue to watch film with the coaches and individually. As I continue to grow and keep getting better, everything else will fall into place."

Cam Oliver had an intriguing battle as expected with Jock Landale and delivered 18 points, six rebounds and two steals for Cairns while Scott Machado had another 14 points and nine assists.

Fabijan Krslovic added six points and nine rebounds, Mirko Djeric five points and Deng four points and three rebounds before going out injured. 

Jarrod Kenny finished with three points and three assists, Nate Jawai two points and three rebounds, and Jordan Ngatai two points.

Taipans coach Mike Kelly was frustrated his team couldn’t finish the job but it's too early for an update on Majok Deng's leg injury.

"We've played three good quarters in a lot of games. I think that comes down to toughness and keeping on the same page as your teammates," Kelly said.

"I don't know what the injury is yet. We haven't evaluated it. I don't think that was a key to us losing as much as Majok is a key for us. They rebounded in the first half and they rebounded in the second half. They got to stuff that we didn't."

It was a hot start from the Snakes beginning with a Scott Machado basket, Majok Deng and-one and then Kouat Noi triple as they led 8-0. That became 21-10 after another 10-0 run including four points each from Cam Oliver and Noi.

A big three-point buzzer beater from Machado gave Cairns the 25-17 quarter-time edge before the lead grew to nine with a triple from Noi to start the second period.

Noi continued his stunning first half with another couple of bucks to keep the Taipans advantage at eight, and it was still seven by half-time.

The Taipans continued that momentum with four more quick points from Noi to start the second half as the lead grew to 11. 

It was still 11 after baskets from Fabijan Krslovic, Jordan Ngatai and Noi as well with the Taipans keeping on top late in the third term firstly with a three-point play on a huge breakaway slam from Oliver, and then an open three from Jarrod Kenny.

Cairns was still on top by six when Machado scored early in the last quarter, and still by four when Noi went to 27 points on the night. But Melbourne took the lead soon after with triples to Mitch McCarron and Jock Landale, and a dunk from Scotty Hopson. 

They maintained the momentum from there to end up winning 88-81 with the 13-point fourth quarter turnaround.

The Taipans are back in action on Friday night against the Perth Wildcats and again two days later against the Brisbane Bullets.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 6
NBL CUP WEEK 1

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 81 (Noi 27, Oliver 18, Machado 14)

MELBOURNE UNITED 88 (Landale 18, Baba 17, McCarron 17) 

POINTS AWARDED – Melbourne United 6, Cairns Taipans 1

BOX SCORE