Machado fires on return for Snakes in the 'Gong

Still down three key men, the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans gladly welcomed back two important players on Saturday night and while they didn’t quite come away with the win against the Illawarra Hawks, the signs were good for when the full squad is back together.

For the first time since December 11, Taipans superstar Scott Machado was back in uniform and for the first time this season so was his back court running mate Mirko Djeric to take on the Hawks at WIN Entertainment Centre.

While the ultimate 87-81 loss for the Snakes will be frustrating, the signs were good of what this team can be capable of with Machado and Djeric back, and when Nate Jawai, Jarrod Kenny and Kouat Noi also return.

Machado's influence was obvious for the Taipans even if he only played 15 minutes. That was more than he was originally slated to, but he was having a significant impact on Cairns trying to win the game and finished with 16 points and three assists including 4/7 from deep.

Tahjere McCall enjoyed not having to take on as much ball-handing responsibility and finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals – and importantly just one turnover.

Majok Deng was aggressive inside to go 9/10 from the foul line for 14 points while rookie Bul Kuol connected on another four three-pointers for 12 points while playing terrific defence to restrict Tyler Harvey to 12 points on 4/12 shooting for the Hawks.

Stephen Zimmerman also had seven points and eight rebounds for Cairns, Keanu Pinder seven points and nine boards, Jordan Ngatai five points, and Marshall Nelson three points and two rebounds.

Taipans coach Adam Forde would have loved to play Machado for longer, but he had to listen to his strength and conditioning team, and also be mindful of not pushing him too far.

"While it was good to get Scott out there ... it was his first game back from an extended time through rehab so he will naturally be sore tomorrow," he said.

"As much as I wanted to play him as much as I could, but you've also got to keep one eye on the future. He was (shooting) a point a minute, but we've got to back up for another game against New Zealand at 
home."

At the end of the day, a shooting clip of 35 per cent was what cruelled the Taipans, Forde said.

"We missed a lot of little bunnies, a lot of shots, turned down a few looks," he said.

"The guys lost confidence in their shot and we should never lose confidence in our shot. We've got our floor general back, he will help steady the ship, we got a bit stagnant at times without him."

Illawarra did open up the game scoring six of the first eight points before the Snakes worked into the contest beginning with a triple from Bul Kuol fresh off knocking down eight of them last Saturday against the Brisbane Bullets.

Tahjere McCall then scored a couple of times and Jordan Ngatai connected from downtown for Cairns to claim the 12-9 edge. It was a frantic opening by both teams combining for 33 points in the first five minutes of the game, but the Snakes were doing well to keep pace with the Hawks.

McCall continued his hot start and ended up with 12 opening quarter points before Keanu Pinder added an and-one play and the returning Scott Machado knocked down a three to cut Illawarra's quarter-time lead to 29-28.

Kuol then continued his hot streak from beyond the three-point arc to hit a couple of triples to open the second quarter to give Cairns the brief lead. The lead continued to seesaw the rest of the half with four late Machado points keeping things close with the Hawks only leading 52-49 at the break.

The game-changing run came from Illawarra to open the second half with the home team going on a 13-3 streak to open up a 13-point lead. The Cairns lone points in that stretch were a fourth three of the game from Kuol.

Marshall Nelson also connected from deep to keep the Snakes in touch before Deng and Machado combined for the quarter's last seven points and bring the Taipans within six.

When Deng scored again with seven minutes to go, the Taipans were within four but the Hawks responded with the next six points to go out to a double-digit lead again.

The Snakes refused to go away, though, and three-point bombs from Machado and Deng made it a six-point game. It was then down to four when McCall threw down one of the dunks of the season over Sam Froling when he drove straight down the lane and finished with two hands.

That was as close as the brave Taipans would get, though, with the Hawks holding out for the six-point win.

The Taipans have a quick turnaround to heading back home to host the New Zealand Breakers on Monday evening at Cairns Convention Centre.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 11

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 81 (McCall 17, Machado 16, Deng 14) 

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 87 (Reath 18, Jessup 18, Cleveland 16)

BOX SCORE