Rookie Kuol, emerging Deng help Taipans to stunning win

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans could have made all the excuses in the world, but coach Adam Forde wanted none of it and his players answered the call to deliver a tremendous 102-94 win over the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday.

Following the 25-day COVID-enforced break, the Taipans had struggled in losses to the South East Melbourne Phoenix and Illawarra Hawks, and while his team wasn’t at full strength, coach Forde demanded more from them.

He certainly couldn’t question their effort levels on Saturday at Nissan Arena as they opened up a 14-point lead, then took the best shots from the Bullets and pulled away in the second half for the eight-point victory.

Making the win all the more meritorious for the Snakes was the fact that key players Scott Machado, Kouat Noi, Mirko Djeric, Jarrod Kenny and Nate Jawai were all absent. On some nights, that could be just about a starting five group.

However on this night the Taipans weren’t looking for excuses. They wanted nothing less than coming away from Brisbane with the win and that's exactly what they delivered.

Rookie Bul Kuol delivered a shooting performance for the ages to finish with 26 points for the Taipans on the back of drilling a remarkable 8/10 from three-point territory.

Majok Deng took over the game too finishing with 26 points, four rebounds and three assists on 8/15 shooting from the floor and a perfect 8/8 at the foul line.

They had plenty of helping hands too with Tahjere McCall delivering 19 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals while Stephen Zimmerman added 11 points and 14 rebounds, Keanu Pinder 11 points and 10 boards, Marshall Nelson six points and two assists, and Jordan Ngatai three points, four boards and three assists.

Taipans coach Adam Forde is especially happy with the way Kuol has stepped up with the opportunities presented.

"I had a chat with him after the Blitz.. I told Bul after the Blitz that I was not happy with a couple of key areas," he said.

"The reality is, especially in this game, if we were full strength then Bul would have registered a few DNPs or maybe a couple of minutes off the bench, I don't know, that is how I felt after the pre-season.

"Here we are, down a lot of bodies and with that you can get opportunities. No pun intended, but he has taken the bull by the horns. He has been fantastic."

The Taipans had been challenged by their coach coming into the game to lift and they did from the outset in Brisbane on Saturday with Majok Deng and Bul Kuol combining for the game's opening five points.

They were then up 14-4 when Tahjere McCall converted a three-point play and both Deng and Kuol drained three-point bombs. 

That lead was out to 13 points later in the first term thanks to another 6-0 run but Brisbane worked back into the contest and by quarter-time, Cairns' lead was just five despite the 11 points from Deng.

Kuol kept the three-point shots coming, though, to start the second period to kickstart an 8-0 run for the Snakes to restore their 11-point margin. That was still 10 with a bucket to McCall and then out to 11 when the dynamic guard finished another and-one play.

Kuol hit another triple heading towards half-time, but it was Brisbane who picked up some momentum closing the half with a 13-5 run to tie scores up at 53-53 at the break.

Kuol and Deng picked up where they left off to open the third term with both hitting again from beyond the three-point line. However, things were getting tight and by three quarter-time Cairns was just clinging to a 73-71 advantage.

The Snakes came out firing to start the fourth term again, though, and when McCall found Keanu Pinder for a throwdown on the fast break, they were up by seven and never really looked back.

Injury replacement player Marshall Nelson had his best minutes in a Taipans uniform knocking down consecutive threes to maintain the eight-point lead before Kuol closed the door on the Bullets once and for all with his seventh and eighth triples of the game on the way to securing the eight-point win.

The Taipans will now look to keep the momentum going next Saturday on the road to the Illawarra Hawks.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 10

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 102 (Deng 26, Kuol 26, McCall 19) 

BRISBANE BULLETS 94 (Franks 22, Patterson 16, Cadee 15)

BOX SCORE