Play-In Game: Taipans advance to Playoffs

CQUniversity Cairns Taipans (91) def. Perth Wildcats (78)
Play-In Game | Cairns Convention Centre
Next Game: Taipans v Kings, Playoffs Game 1, Wednesday 15 February 6:30pm AEST

SUMMARY

DJ Hogg set a new CQUniversity Cairns Taipans NBL Finals record with 32 points to lead the Snakes to the 91-78 Play-In Game home victory against the Perth Wildcats.

Cairns lost to the Tasmania JackJumpers in Thursday's Seeding Qualifier but had a second chance to reach the Playoffs and despite missing Keanu Pinder and Tahjere McCall, put together a tremendous performance for virtually 40 minutes.

While it was Hogg who set the tone with a franchise post-season record of 32 points for Cairns on top of two huge blocks on Perth superstar Bryce Cotton, it was anything but a one-man performance.

Hogg did have 21 points to the half, but he had plenty of help with his team leading by nine at the break, pushing it out to 16 in the third quarter, 17 in the fourth and then taking Perth's best shots to win by 13.

It quickly became the DJ Hogg show as he took charge scoring eight of their first nine points as part of a 9-5 lead and that became 16-11 when Sam Waardenburg and Shannon Scott joined the act.

TaShawn Thomas was keeping Perth close with six first quarter points while Bryce Cotton had nine, but Cairns went into quarter-time up 25-19 on the back of a buzzer-beating triple from Majok Deng.

The Snakes were feeling good about the flow of the contest and when Lat Mayen, Hogg and Scott all drained three-pointers midway through the second term, their advantage blew out to 11 points and John Rillie had to talk it over.

Mitch Norton immediately responded with a corner three for Perth but Hogg was just playing at another level. He delivered another two three-pointers including one from way downtown and then blocked Cotton at the rim in statement fashion.

Even though the 'Cats did go on a 7-0 run, another and-one play from Hogg kept the Taipans on top 52-43 at the half and he had delivered 21 points on 7/11 shooting in a dazzling display to be the difference.

Every time Perth threatened to pull the margin back during the third quarter, Cairns would have the answers. The 'Cats got back within six but then the Snakes responded with the next 10 points capped off by three balls to Hogg and Kuol.

That blew the Taipans lead out to 16 and the Wildcats had to answer, and they did, with the next eight points including a couple off the bench from development player Michael Harris.

That brought Perth back within eight but the last two buckets of the third quarter went to Kuol and Hogg for Cairns, and then another Hogg block on Cotton, this time from beyond the arc, ensured the Taipans led 71-59 by three quarter-time.

Five quick points from Kuol pushed Cairns out to a game high 17-point margin just two minutes into the fourth quarter, but the 'Cats weren’t going away. When Brady Manek hit his first three of the game, the margin was back to 12 and they were still within a hope.

When Cotton got to the rack with five minutes to play for his fifth basket of the game, Perth got back within 10 with a 7-0 run and Adam Forde needed to talk it over.

Then when the Taipans needing a bucket the most, Ben Ayre scored his first points of the game with a triple to push the margin back out to 13 first his first post-season points in the NBL. 

Mayen then landed another from downtown for Cairns and it was a 16-point ball game and from there, the home team won by 13 to book in a Playoff series match up with the Kings.

STATISTICS

The result means that Cairns will now advance to a best-of-three Playoffs series with the Sydney Kings starting at Qudos Bank Arena on Wednesday. 

The Snakes finished the game shooting 51 per cent from the floor and hitting 12/34 from three-point range opposed to 40 per cent field goal shooting from the Wildcats who went 6/26 from deep.

DJ Hogg's spectacular performance saw him finish with 32 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks on 11/19 shooting from the field, 5/12 from three-point territory and 5/6 at the foul line.

Bul Kuol was tremendous as well with 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists with Sam Waardenburg delivering 15 points and 10 rebounds, Shannon Scott seven points, eight assists and six boards, and Lat Mayen eight points and six rebounds in his first career start.

Ben Ayre chimed in with three points and a rebound, and Majok Deng three points, four rebounds and a steal.

While Bryce Cotton's numbers are solid for Perth with 19 points and 10 assists on 7/17 shooting, Cairns did everything to deny him three-point looks and to get the ball out of his hands, and the final result means it worked.

He also just didn’t get enough support. Corey Webster added 14 points on 5/14 shooting, TaShawn Thomas had 14 points and four rebounds, Brady Manek 13 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, and Luke Travers had a tough night with five points, five boards and four steals.

STATEMENTS

Head Coach Adam Forde: 

"I know the Cowboys play today as well so a real special thank you to the fans who didn’t want to go to the Cowboys because I know it's Cowboy country in Northern Queensland. It was great seeing them here to support the group and it was loud, the energy was fantastic and any time we went on a bit of a momentum run or we needed something on the other end, they were all behind us. Firstly a massive thank you to our fans because I know it was short notice especially when deciding what to do between the Cowboys or here. They decided to pick us and now hopefully they will be back for Game 2 against Sydney. It's a sense of relief, that's probably the main feeling. That's not through any level of stress, it was just because the boys worked so hard to not see this go another week. It wasn’t relief for me or anything else other than the boys have earned their stripes this year. We've had some injuries, we've copped more injuries and for them to play the way they did today and book themselves another week of games and practice, I'm ecstatic for them."

Taipans Forward Lat Mayen after first career start:

"I had fun out there and I think everybody had fun, including the crowd and the whole team. I just kind of told myself to go out there and just do what I do every day at practice every chance I get. I just kind of stayed in the moment and I knew if I go out there and play hard, crash the boards and I should be fine."