McVeigh heroics seal win in Sydney

The Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans have gone 2-0 across Round 2 after defeating the Sydney Kings 77-74 at Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Marking the club's first win at the venue since 2022, the win has sent the Taipans to fourth on the ladder after three games.

After making his debut on Friday night, Andrew Andrews launched straight into action, with the experienced guard capitalising on his side winning the opening tip before Marcus Lee worked his way to the line.

As the Kings struggled to find the bottom of the basket in the first minutes of their season, the Taipans capitalised with Reyne Smith and Jack McVeigh drilled a series of triples to stretch the margin out quickly.

Scoring a rapid 15 points in under five minutes of action, Cairns ensured that the home team didn’t see the lead in front of their fans until Kendric Davis started to find his groove.

Racking up the points quickly, the guard tied the contest as the end of the first term approached, however Cairns responded with Kody Stattmann finding his own touch by hitting a three-pointer to seal a four-point lead at the first break.

Trading bucket for bucket when play resumed, the Kings weren’t able to push themselves ahead as the Taipans answered every attempt.

Leading the side, Jack McVeigh was able to keep the scoreboard ticking over consistently to reach 12 points in 14 minutes of basketball, but Sydney kept chipping away at the margin.

Making back-to-back buckets, Davis handed the Kings their first lead of the game before the guard fired a triple to stretch the margin for the home side.

Answering with his own shot from outside the arc, Smith looked to limit the damage before Andrews got straight to work by repeatedly working his way to the line.

Limiting the damage that Sydney had done, the guards brought the margin back to five points by the main break, with their work continuing when they returned to the court.

Whilst Tim Soares was the only King who was able to find the bottom of the bucket early in the third, Admiral Schofield joined Andrews and Smith in snatching the lead back.

Opening the quarter with a 16-6 run, Sydney were forced into an early timeout with it only yielding another Soares bucket before the side conceded back-to-back turnovers.

Facing a single-bucket deficit, the Kings turned to their outside shooting to push themselves ahead again, however their shots failed to drop.

Hitting two of their 19 attempts from outside across the first three periods, their strategy failed to pay off as the third quarter came to a close.

When play resumed, neither side was able to tick the scoreboard over with consistency, but the high travel loads that Andrews had endured had caught up with the electric guard who suffered a cramp and was forced from the court.

As the lead swung between the two sides, neither lineup was able to push themselves more than a bucket ahead until Andrews returned to action and nailed a triple.

Followed up with an Alex Higgins-Titsha free-throw, Cairns were able to stretch the margin to four points as the clock ticked under one minute remaining in the contest.

Sensing the big moment, McVeigh took the ball with the forward sinking a turnaround jump shot to stretch the margin to six points.

Answering quickly, Kouat Noi nailed a triple to bring the margin to three points before Cairns conceded an offensive foul.

Handing the ball back to the Kings, a McVeigh tip forced a turnover with the ball finding its way back into the control of the Taipans.

Frantically forcing a jump ball, Sydney had one final chance to force overtime, but Noi failed to capitalise on his shot with the Taipans going undefeated across Round 2.

Following up his near triple-double performance on Friday night with a near double-double stat line against the Kings, Jack McVeigh ended his afternoon with 24 points, nine boards, four assists and a block.

Both scoring 16 points, Andrew Andrews and Reyne Smith also had impressive games, with the American also contributing seven dimes, two rebounds and a steal, and the Australian grabbing five boards.

Showing their abilities on the boards, Admiral Schofield and Marcus Lee both finished with six rebounds, with Schofield scoring seven points with a steal and Lee providing three points and two dimes.

Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde:

“Right now, we're just basically playing a little bit of catchup in a sense of Reyne came in hurt and he really only got one good week of practice then to move into the starting group. He's someone that gets forgotten about of how he's come in a little bit late, but he's playing catchup. But it's a good group. Mentally, they know what needs to get done, and finding ways to win is half the battle.
“Jack is a cheat code. There's a lot of times where the biggest fault is that we ball watch and spectate. So, as teams start to double him, we've got to start doing a better job off the ball with giving him some options because he's a willing passer.
“There have been some people referring to Andrews as a downgrade, but the dude's played 10 years in leagues that you couldn't believe. We're hyping up Panathinaikos, but he's suited up for those guys, and he's won everywhere he's gone. I think smart basketball people know how good he is, and I don't think he's going to fly under the radar and when he gets his legs, he's only going to be better.”

The Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans will now prepare for a frantic October schedule with the side playing five games at the Cairns Convention Centre over the next five weeks. They'll first face the Adelaide 36ers on Thursday night - grab your tickets for the 7:30pm game HERE.