Hawks breeze past undermanned Taipans

An undermanned Cairns Taipans have been defeated by the Illawarra Hawks 75-102 on Saturday night at HBF Stadium for HoopsFest, spoiling their 2024-25 NBL season opener.

It was always going to be a monster effort without Taran Armstrong, Jackson Makoi, and Kyle Adnam only recently returning from injury, as the Taipans started their new season without a full-time point guard.

The opened the game running a set to perfection, setting up a brief lead – but the Hawks quickly swooped in and didn’t let up, securing a 21-12 advantage seven minutes into the game.

A Kyrin Galloway triple reduced their lead to five at the first break, as injury replacement player Tad Dufelmeier joined Rob Edwards in the ball handing duties to help fill the obvious voids.

Despite the Hawks holding a 54-45 by the half, Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde said his new line-up looked the goods after 20 minutes of basketball.

“The thing is we shot 37% from three at half time, and I’m not going to sit here and say those shots were great,” he said.

“But when we moved it, we looked good and that was clean, and that’s what we want. The shots that looked good, that didn’t go in, I want to keep encouraging those.”

Entering the second half on a 6-0 run, the Taipans were able to draw back a two-point deficit, but it didn’t last long. The Hawks were able to score at will, and an Illawarra 41-13 run set up their win.

“It’s kind of hard where half their misses, they’re able to get a second crack at it.

“We did a better job defensively in the second half, but those offensive rebounds - they just beat us up on it.

“Even in the third, we’re getting stops but we still only became this one pass offense again, and we’re rushing the shot unnecessarily.

“We had some good shots that didn’t go in, and then we start to feel like suddenly it’s not a good offensive possession.”

Taipans forward Pedro Bradshaw acknowledged his offensive possessions and his struggle to score.

The former Indiana Mad Ant was only able to contribute eight points at 14% efficiency – three of which came from the free throw line.

“Two from 13 for me is really terrible. I think the shots that I were taking, some were forced, but some were some that I just missed. So I think just continue to get my feet up under me.”

Coming off a strong Blitz appearance, import Rob Edwards also struggled to get his feet beneath him – his 17 points coming from behind the arc or from the free throw line.

Tanner Groves was one of three Snakes who was able to hit his shots at above 50% – Waardenburg and Galloway joining him – with the import leading the side with 19 points and seven boards, with a 60% accuracy from the field.

The Taipans now need to regroup ahead of their home opener next Saturday night, where they’ll host the Adelaide 36ers. Their return to the Cairns Convention Centre will tip off at 5:30pm, with tickets available from HERE.