Late charge in New Zealand not enough for Cairns

Despite a late charge, the Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans were unable to take down the New Zealand Breakers on their home court, falling 99-92 at Spark Arena on Saturday night.

Making their only journey across the Tasman Sea for the season, the Taipans welcomed back Taran Armstrong whilst Jonah Antonio (illness) and AK Gak (personal reasons) remained in Cairns. Facing the Breakers for the first time since New Year’s Eve, Cairns faced a lineup once more missing star Parker Jackson-Cartwright (mid-section) with Max Darling (illness) also missing the clash.

Utilising his height, Tacko Fall was able to win the tip however was unable to find his teammates, with the ball finding Rob Edwards instead who fed Pedro Bradshaw – hitting two triples to open the night.

Capitalising on New Zealand’s turnovers, Cairns earnt themselves a six-point lead after five minutes of action, with the dominant body of Fall only able to contribute four points.

Finding their own touch from deep, the Breakers drained repeated shots from deep to level the contest before Bradshaw caught fire once more.

Despite making 83% of their shots, New Zealand struggled to generate extra looks, with five turnovers for the home side and five offensive boards pulled down by Cairns meaning that the visitors held the lead at the first break.

Hitting two quick triples, the Breakers returned to the court with a 7-0 run before the Taipans were able to return serve, with the guard duo of Taran Armstrong and Edwards pulling the margin back.

Firing five of their first six attempts of the quarter from outside the arc – with four of them dropping – another run by New Zealand stretched the gap back out to seven points, before Cairns answered once more with a 7-0 to level the contest once more.

Capitalising on the ever-growing number of Breaker turnovers – nine of them at the main break – Bradshaw ended the first half with three steals, however with New Zealand only missing five of their 26 shots the hosts were able to rebuild a five-point lead.

Returning to the court by feeding Fall, the Breakers once more opened a quarter with a run – this time a 6-0 slide for the Taipans – with back-to-back dunks by the American forcing the Taipans to call a timeout only 77 seconds into the term.

As the contest continued, neither side was able to assert their dominance on the game, with the margin continuously swaying between seven and 11 points.

Putting together a 6-0 run to end the quarter, the Breakers were finally able to break the stalemate to stretch the margin out to 15 points – a lead that they continued to build as the fixture entered its final term.

Stretching the margin as far as 21 points, the visitors answered strongly with a 16-2 run to bring the deficit back to single digits.

Led by Kyrin Galloway, Kody Stattmann and Bradshaw, Cairns raised the intensity at both ends to reduce the marging to six points with the clock winding down to under a minute.

With a late win remaining within view, the Taipans continued to battle – sending the Breakers to the free throw line whilst looking to tick the scoreboard over at the other end – however their efforts weren’t enough, with a final bucket by Sam Waardenburg bringing the margin to seven points.

Both contributing 16 points, Pedro Bradshaw and Sam Waardenburg led the charge on the offensive end, with the Taipans import also putting up four rebounds, three steals and an assist. On his home court, the New Zealander pulled down six boards for Cairns alongside five assists, a steal and a block.

Despite only seeing limited minutes in the final quarter, Rob Edwards reached 14 points as he joined all five Taipans starters scoring in double digits, with Kyrin Galloway coming off the bench to contribute 11 points in 16 minutes of action.

Serving eight assists, Taran Armstrong drew four fouls across the contest despite not fouling himself, with the guard putting up 10 points, three rebounds and a steal.

“Credit to New Zealand, we were super passive in that middle stretch, and I kept searching for a five to reignite us, but we found ourselves down 21 in the fourth,” said Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde.

“We had guys who were good for patches – there were some individual good performances – but trying to get the five on the same page together was a bit hit and miss.

“It could’ve been easy to roll over when you’re down 21 in the fourth and just call it a night. I loved the fight, but there were still things that were self-inflicted wounds which we can only address and get better, but what I’ve always said about the group is what we maybe lack in experience and cohesion, you can’t doubt their fight and desire to play out the entire game.”

“Even throughout the whole season we’ve always had moments but then we’ve struggled to put a full game together, but it’s definitely fun when we’re on the same page and playing good basketball,” said Taipans forward Kyrin Galloway.

“It’s been a very tough season, but we’ve always stuck together as a team, and we’ve all continued to bring that same mindset that we brought from the get-go, so we’ve never been the team to roll over no matter how bad things got, and I think that showed tonight.”

The Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans will now return to the tropics ahead of their final home game of the season against their Queensland rivals. They’ll face the Brisbane Bullets on Thursday night from 6:30pm – tickets for the derby are available HERE!