Host of Taipans step up huge in win over Breakers

Scott Machado and Nate Jawai had their dominant moments with Bul Kuol and Kouat Noi aggressive, and coming up huge as the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans overcame the New Zealand Breakers 93-90 on Sunday.

The Taipans were looking to bounce back from Friday's loss also at Cairns Convention Centre to the South East Melbourne Phoenix, and while no fans were in the building, it didn’t lack for entertainment.

The teams did trade the advantage right throughout the evening in Far North Queensland but ultimately a dominant first quarter from Jawai, big last term from Machado and starring performances from emerging stars Kuol and Noi got the Snakes over the line.

It was a good win for Cairns minus Tahjere McCall, Stephen Zimmerman and Mirko Djeric and means they've now won two of the last three.

Kuol took 11 three-point attempts on Friday night for Cairns but made his only attempt this time around but was aggressive taking the ball to the rack and got to the line 12 times as a result on his way to 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Noi also had his best game of the season with 19 points and six rebounds on 7/9 shooting while Jawai had to play a bigger role when Keanu Pinder fouled out in 10 minutes. Jawai had nine opening quarter points on his way to 16 for the game and five rebounds.

Machado had a purple patch in the fourth quarter as well and ended the game with 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds with Majok Deng contributing 11 points and six boards. 

Pinder had six points and two rebounds before fouling out in the third term with Jordan Ngatai adding four points, three boards and two assists, Jarrod Kenny three points and a steal, and Brayden Inger two points and a rebound.

Cairns coach Adam Forde was glad with the players who stepped up in the challenging circumstances.

"There was a lot of mistakes and errors in that game, and it was two teams struggling with injuries and fatigue, and it was just a grind," Forde said. 

"It was a real gritty performance and hats off to New Zealand for having their home game here. It was obviously good to get a win because wins are far and few between so we're real happy from that point of things. 

"The guys stepped up kind of had to because we have a lot of guys on the sidelines and then Keanu got himself into foul trouble early. The opportunities were there and I love the fact that the boys felt comfortable enough in their home gym to go out there and do what was needed to be done."

Yanni Wetzell produced another 21 points and eight rebounds for the Breakers with Ousmane Dieng producing his season high of 20 points to go with four rebounds.

Keanu Pinder again started the game on fire with the first four points including a dunk for the Taipans, but it was Breakers captain Tom Abercrombie matching him up the other end with the seven points for his team.

Yanni Wetzell and Hugo Besson then combined to give New Zealand the 13-10 advantage before the introduction of Nate Jawai turned the tide. While Pinder had been lively, he also had four turnovers but Jawai was simply too big, powerful and aggressive down low.

He produced his best quarter of the season for nine points on 3/3 shooting in 4:30 and as a result the Taipans led 24-17 by quarter-time.

New Zealand turned things back in their favour to open the second period starting with a triple from Next Star Ousmane Dieng. The Breakers couldn’t quite get in front, though with the Taipans answering their challenges until just before half-time.

Three-point makes to Besson and Will McDowell-White saw New Zealand able to claim the 45-43 half-time advantage.

Cairns were the ones to start the second half with a bang with the opening six points to regain the advantage. It was Noi who was feeling it with seven quick points.

Noi ended up scoring 11 points in the third quarter alone and then despite Peyton Siva scoring nine points to close the period for New Zealand, a Jarrod Kenny make from three saw Cairns up 71-68 by three quarter-time.

A big three from Dieng for New Zealand gave him his highest score of the season and levelled scores but the Snakes soon worked their way back on top. It was Machado who was the inspiration behind it. He scored eight straight points including two threes to put Cairns up 81-74 with six minutes to go.

New Zealand kept hanging around and just as Machado hit another big bucket to kept the Taipans up six, Besson drilled a huge three to bring it back to three with two minutes remaining.

Things stayed tight and when Jawai knocked down two more free throws, Cairns led by four with 23 seconds to go. The Breakers were able to score in one second after the timeout with the McDowell-White pass for a Dieng layup leading to the Taipans calling for time.

Things were still dramatic at the finish and ultimately Dieng sent up a prayer for New Zealand down three that went close, but didn’t quite fall and the Snakes held on to win by three.

The Taipans remain in Cairns to host the South East Melbourne Phoenix again on Saturday before these two teams do battle once more next Monday albeit in Hobart.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 17

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 93 (Noi 19, Kuol 17, Jawai 16) 

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 90 (Wetzell 21, Dieng 20, Besson 16)

BOX SCORE