Pinder stars in Cairns’ stunning comeback

An incredible second half fightback led by Keanu Pinder has handed the Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans a thrilling 84-82 victory over the Sydney Kings at the Cairns Convention Centre on Friday night.

The home side was trailing by 26 points in the second quarter, but Cairns never stopped believing, Pinder the orchestrator with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Jack McVeigh added 16 points to go with four rebounds and three assists.

After trailing by over 20 points for a majority of the first half, the Taipans came to life in the third quarter with a scintillating shooting display.

A 31-14 surge was on the back of finding range from the three-point line, the Taipans finished the third quarter on a 17-4 run.

A free throw from Pinder cut the margin to single digits, then an athletic finish from Kyrin Galloway and then a three-pointer from Pinder cut the Kings’ lead to 67-63 with 10 minutes to play.

The home side continued the momentum with an 11-0 run to start the fourth quarter and built the lead to 77-69 before the Kings responded scoring six straight points to cut the margin to 77-75.

Former-Taipan Torrey Craig then came to life, swishing two three-pointers down the stretch to give the Kings back the lead twice.

But it was Pinder who had the final say, two tough baskets inside, one to tie the game, then one from a great Shaun Bruce assist ultimately finishing off the colossal comeback.

TALE OF TWO HALVES

Cairns found their shooting touch after the main break as the Kings went into half-time with a 53-32 lead.

The Taipans held the defending champions to just 29 points in the second half, limiting the Kings to just one shot.

At one stage, Cairns had just 4/20 from the three-point line but swished 12 of the next 22 attempts to roar back into the game and gained control.

When the game got close, the Taipans steadied through Pinder and Cairns have now won eight of their past nine matches where the margin has been seven points or less.

FORDE’S MILESTONE

Head Coach Adam Forde coached his 200^th game in the NBL in Friday night’s amazing come-from-behind victory over the Kings.

It was quite poetic Forde’s milestone game was against the Kings, after Forde started his head coaching career with 36 games as the Sydney mentor in 2021.

Forde’s coaching journey started as a video coordinator with Perth under now Adelaide 36ers head coach Trevor Gleeson and won four NBL championships with the Wildcats before starting his head coaching career in the Harbour City.

Now in his fifth season in Far North Queensland, Forde has led the Taipans to the semi-finals once in the NBL23 season, bowing out of the title race to Sydney in a three-game thriller.

MASTER VS APPRENTICE

It was a great learning curve for NBL Next Star Luke Paul matching up against Australian Boomers Bronze medalist Matthew Dellavedova.

The Duke-commit more than held his own and is growing in confidence with every professional game he plays.

Paul finishing with eight huge rebounds to go with three points, two assists and two steals.

The 198cm point guard also spent time on Kendric Davis and Torrey Craig as the Taipans employed a switching defense, showing his versatility on both ends of the floor.

WHAT’S NEXT

Cairns will be back in action at home next Friday night when the Taipans host Perth Wildcats in the club’s Indigenous Round match at the Cairns Convention Centre, tip off is at 7pm. Make sure you get your tickets HERE.
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‍CAIRNS TAIPANS 84 (Pinder 24, J McVeigh 16, Lewis 11) def SYDNEY KINGS 82 (Davis 23, Craig 22, Dellavedova 11) at the Cairns Convention Centre.

BOX SCORE