Hot Djeric, Ngatai shooting not quite enough for Taipans

Despite some hot shooting from Jordan Ngatai and Mirko Djeric and another competitive showing, the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans fell 10 points short of Melbourne United once again on Easter Sunday.

The two teams did battle in Melbourne on Good Friday with United winning that game by 10 points and it was the same end result on Sunday at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena with the eventual 83-73 victory for the visitors.

It again wasn’t without some impressive performers for the Taipans, though, including Djeric and Ngatai combining to shoot 9/14 from three-point range. 

Scott Machado was aggressive offensively too and on several occasions did the Snakes fight back from deficits, but it just took so much energy to continue to play the catch up. 

That ended up taking its toll and Melbourne was able to secure the win to give them five wins on the trot to maintain pace with the Perth Wildcats at the top of the table.

The three-point shooting of Ngatai and Djeric was a definite positive for the Taipans to take from the game. Ngatai hit 5/7 from deep for 15 points and five rebounds while Djeric responded to coming off the bench going 4/7 from beyond the arc for 13 points, five rebounds and two assists.

Scott Machado top-scored for Cairns with 20 points, seven assists and three rebounds while Cam Oliver had 14 points and 10 rebounds, Nate Jawai seven points, George Blagojevic two points and Mojave King two points, two rebounds and two assists.

Cairns coach Mike Kelly again couldn’t fault the effort of his team for the most part but there were times he felt it became a little to easy for Melbourne to get important buckets.

"I actually thought that tonight especially after that great push in the second half of the third that we put ourselves in a position to fight, and then hit some big shots and took some really tough shots," Kelly said. 

"When we turned it over or took tough shots they were able to push it down and get easier shots. And when we were a little more measured or made shots, we were able to keep it in the half court and we did solid job in the half court. But when we got stretched out they got buckets."

Jordan Ngatai continued his run of career-best form on the back of increased opportunities with the Taipans hitting three triples in the opening minutes as the Snakes led 13-7 forcing Melbourne into a timeout.

United came out of that well with a 10-2 run and that saw them end up taking a 24-22 edge into quarter-time.

Melbourne's lead got out to nine points to start the second quarter and it was a similar situation to the Good Friday game when United also led the Taipans by 13 points at a similar period.

Scott Machado got Cairns back into it with five quick points and then Mirko Djeric caught fire with a couple of triples to find some confidence having lost his starting spot to Jarrod Kenny for the game.

Machado kept delivering for 17 first half points and the Snakes were just three points down by half-time, but the 10 offensive rebounds conceded was of concern.

Melbourne again threatened to open up a sizeable gap midway through the third quarter with a Jock Landale-inspired 9-0 run that saw them again lead by nine. But the Taipans weren’t going away and it was two big threes from Djeric that sparked the fightback including one that he turned into a four-point play.

Nate Jawai and Mojave King capped off an 8-0 run before Melbourne went into three quarter-time up 62-60.

The Snakes were then just a point down after a free-throw and a big finish from Oliver with 6:44 to go in the game. But it was former Taipan Mitch McCarron that became the difference going on his own 8-0 run for Melbourne to put the visitors up by nine.

The Taipans kept fighting with a couple more emphatic finishes from Oliver and triples each from Ngatai and Machado, but it wasn’t to be and United went on to win by 10 points just as they did on Good Friday in Melbourne.

The Taipans (5-16) now prepare to head to Wollongong to take on the Illawarra Hawks next Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 12

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 73 (Machado 20, Ngatai 15, Oliver 14)

MELBOURNE UNITED 83 (Goulding 15, Hopson 14, McCarron 14) 

BOX SCORE