Cairns take down Townsville 2-0

A number of CQUniversity Cairns Taipans players took the opportunity to suit up on behalf of the Cairns Marlins on the weekend, to take part in the “Top of the North” series against the Townsville Heat. Cairns won by 107-76 on Saturday, then 105-86 on Sunday afternoon.

On Saturday, Majok Deng and Mirko Djeric set up the 31-point win with Deng leading by example for 21 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, while similarly Djeric had fun getting the younger Marlins involved, registering 14 assists to go with 3 points and 5 rebounds.

Krslovic kept the restricted crowd entertained with some timely dunks, scoring 12 points and 7 rebounds as Blagojevic was strong with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Other standouts included Koen Sapwell with 17 points and Ky Stattmann with 12.

To abide by NBL1 rules, Deng and Djeric were rested and did not suit up on Sunday, allowing Mojave King and Tad Dufelmeier to enter the mix. In his first game at the Fish Tank, King had 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in his 15 minutes coming back from illness, while Taipans development player Dufelmeier contributed 11 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds.

Krslovic and Blagojevic remained energised for their second game for the weekend, Blagojevic leading all scorers for 26 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists with Krslovic enjoying an easy double-double of 23 points and 15 rebounds. Sapwell and Stattmann impressed again with 11 and 10 respectively.

Marlins Head Coach Jamie O’Loughlin said that the series against Townsville was a good hit-out for the Taipans, while also serving as an opportunity for the younger players to get quality court time.

“There were multiple layers to this weekend for our group - for the Taipans it was more about getting them in a live game situation because it’s been so long since they’ve played properly. It was good to expose them to the elements you can’t really replicate in training – the pressure of the scoreboard, a game clock, referees and score bench,” said O’Loughlin.

“It also served as a really good chance for our younger players to get some experience alongside pros, and in particular for guys like Koen [Sapwell] and Tad [Dufelmeier] that are trying to break into the NBL to show how they can perform alongside Taipans and what they can produce under pressure.”

The “Top of the North” series is utilising the same scoring system as the “NBL Blitz” pre-season games, with teams scoring one point for winning the quarter, and three points for the game. Taking in the Cairns Dolphins results (Saturday winning 94-67 and Sunday losing 51-64) Cairns currently having 17.5 points and Townsville have 10.5 points in the standings. The series will continue in Townsville from 12-13^th September.