Deng makes encouraging return for Snakes in Adelaide

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans battled hard after a slow start in Adelaide on Tuesday night and there was encouraging signs with the return of Majok Deng, but ultimately the 36ers held on to win 92-76.

It was a familiar tale in the finish for the Snakes with the Sixers getting off to a flying start racing out to a 10-1 opening and ending up leading by as much as 23 points from the point there was three minutes to go in the first half.

The Taipans did come back from a 16-point deficit to beat the 36ers three weeks ago back in Cairns so there was still some reason for hope. And from that point on, the Snakes actually steadied the ship and played some encouraging basketball.

Cairns finished the first half on an 11-4 run and then the Taipans did stick with the 36ers through the second half with both teams putting up 46 points. 

But ultimately on this occasion the Snakes just couldn’t close the gap despite doing a much better job to steady the ship following that round start at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre with the 36ers ending up winning by 16 points to keep their own playoff hopes alive.

It was a tough start in a lot of ways for the Taipans. They only had nine points and six rebounds for the entire opening quarter while shooting 3/16 from the floor. 

But they were able to turn things around from an effort perspective and ended just about drawing level in the rebound count while also pulling in 16 offensive boards for 17 second chance points.

They got good spart off the bench too with 40 of the team's 76 points coming from the non-starters while just having nine turnovers suggested they kept care of the ball well. Ultimately just shooting 36 per cent from the field and 57 per cent from the free-throw line was costly though.

The best part of the night for the Taipans was the successful return from a knee injury of Majok Deng. He had missed the previous 16 games but it didn’t take long to show his shooting touch to end up leading the Snakes with 16 points and five rebounds.

Jordan Ngatai again showed what a dangerous shooter he is knocking down 4/5 from long-range for 12 points while Tad Dufelmeier came off the bench to score nine points, four rebounds and two assists.

Mojave King, Nate Jawai and Scott Machado (seven assists) all scored eight points apiece for Cairns with Venky Jois producing eight points, nine rebounds and two steals.

Mirko Djeric finished with three points and three assists, Jarrod Kenny two points and George Blagojevic two points, a steal and a block.

Taipans coach Mike Kelly was disappointed in his team’s bad start but at least took heart they fought from that point and was encouraged by the return of Majok Deng.

"Adelaide came out strong and dominated us in the first quarter and set the tone. They are a good basketball team and we didn’t fight how we needed to. In the last three quarters we put up a fight, had some good resistance," Kelly said.

"We didn’t shoot the ball great but played some OK basketball which was overshadowed by getting down so much in that first quarter.

"Majok has been busting at the seams to be get back and play. I’m happy to have him back with the group and he wore off the edges today and got back to playing basketball."

It was far from an ideal start for the Taipans for the second time in three weeks against the 36ers. It took almost five minutes for a first field goal and that was a three ball from Mojave King before giving up a 27-9 lead at quarter-time on the back of just 3/16 shooting and only six rebounds.

The second quarter started better, though, starting with a triple from Tad Dufelmeier. The Snakes then also closed the first half on a 6-2 run closing with a basket from Dufelmeier to be within 16 points at the half-time break despite shooting just the 27 per cent from the field.

The Snakes then picked up some momentum for the first real time in the game to start the second half with Nate Jawai and Jordan Ngatai combining for five points to make the deficit just 13.

That would be as close as the Snakes would get, however, but to their credit they responded from falling down 24 points again early in the fourth quarter. The Taipans even closed the game with a 14-6 run with Jordan Ngatai on fire knocking down a trifecta of three-pointers.

The Taipans return home to host the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday night in a chance for the Snakes to put a dent in the finals hopes of their Queensland rivals.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 16

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 76 (Deng 16, Ngatai 12, Dufelmeier 9) 

ADELAIDE 36ERS 92 (Paul 18, Giddey 15, Johnson 15, Crocker 15)

BOX SCORE