McVeigh’s 47-point Inferno Powers Taipans Past Breakers

Jack McVeigh turned the Cairns Convention Centre into a McVeigh masterpiece in his 200th milestone match on Friday night, pouring in a career-high 47 points to drag the Taipans to a gripping 99-95 win over the New Zealand Breakers.

With the Snakes desperate to turn gritty showings into wins, McVeigh delivered the loudest answer imaginable.

A flamethrower performance that had the Orange Army rising every time the Australian Boomer snatched possession.

Cairns trailed early (19–23 at quarter-time) in a physical, paint-heavy opening where both teams couldn’t buy a three.

But McVeigh’s night had already begun, he scored seven of the Taipans’ first nine, and by the time the second quarter opened he was dictating everything.

A Mawot Mag steal ignited a McVeigh triple, then another moments later, as Cairns surged in front for the first time.

McVeigh went berserk in the second term, rocketing to 26 first-half points (11-12 FG) and going 3-4 from three as the Taipans grabbed a 48-43 halftime lead

The Snakes’ kept pace with 12 first-half fast-break points to the Breakers’ two, plus a 20-11 rebounding edge.

New Zealand refused to fold. The game tightened into a dog fight after the break, with Cairns slipping behind 69-72 at three-quarter time despite McVeigh already sitting on 34.

He’d need help and he got it in waves.

Kiwi big-man battle: Waardenburg vs Mennenga

This one had some history behind it. Former Taipan and Breakers big man Sam Mennenga bullied his way through the first three quarters (21 points at three-quarter time) before finishing with 24 points (9-17 FG) and eight rebounds.

But recently returned Sam Waardenburg matched the moment with a monster all-round line, finishing with 16 points (5-8 FG), 10 boards, 8 assists and two blocks. His passing opened lanes and his late free throws steadied the ship when the game tightened in the dying moments.

Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde opted for a two-tower line-up in the fourth quarter with centre Marcus Lee alongside Waardenburg, and it proved decisive.

Lee produced a monster closing term — nine of his 15 points came in the fourth — crashing the glass and making life miserable for Mennenga when it mattered most.

The exclamation point was a sledgehammer dunk in the final quarter that detonated the Convention Centre and charged momentum.  

With Lee patrolling the paint and Waardenburg directing traffic, Cairns’ twin towers helped slam the door late and turn a bruising Kiwi big-man battle into a Taipans finish.

Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde:
“It makes it easy [when Jack McVeigh is in form]. We can start running schemes that use him as a decoy and even as a decoy, he can still score out of it.

"There was a point in the second half where Sam Waardenburg did a great job finding [Jack] in cross-screen action.

"Then Waardenburg was getting easy ones at the rim because Jack started to draw two defenders. It helps free up the offence, knowing we’ve got such a cheat code [with McVeigh]."

“We’re just trying to take it one game at a time. We are behind the eight ball. We’re trying to build consistency game to game.

"This is the first game of three in six days. We want to keep building on playing 40 minutes of consistent basketball.

"We go through stretches, the errors are getting smaller. We want to start stringing performances together and then see what happens from there.”

Point-guard chess: Jackson-Cartwright vs Andrews

Breakers conductor Parker Jackson-Cartwright (12 points from 4-12 FG and 11 assists) created problems, but Andrew Andrews quietly steered Cairns through the chaos, finishing with four points and nine assists as the Taipans found cleaner looks the longer the game wore on.

Add in Mojave King’s return and early slam, Mag’s high-energy defensive minutes and gritty guard Lachlan Barker’s toughness after repeatedly copping punishment and knocks to the nose, and this was a full-team performance.

When the final free throws dropped, Cairns had survived the storm and McVeigh had authored a night Taipans fans won’t forget.

The Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans return to the Cairns Convention Centre to host SEM Phoenix in Round 15 for the New Year's Eve matchup at 6:30pm AEST. Grab your tickets HERE.