Round 14: Taipans make it four straight

CQUniversity Cairns Taipans (94) def. South East Melbourne Phoenix (85)
Round 14 | Cairns Convention Centre
Next Game: Taipans v Hawks, Friday 13 January 6:30pm AEST

SUMMARY

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans remain undefeated in the absence of superstar Keanu Pinder and stayed in the #NBL23 top two hunt after dominating the South East Melbourne Phoenix at home for much of the last three quarters to win 94-85.

The Snakes were playing a fourth consecutive game without Pinder with an ankle injury but the Phoenix, led by Mitch Creek, Alan Williams and Kyle Adnam, put up 35 first quarter points and they led 37-24 to start the second.

It was a blistering opening, but the Taipans weren’t deterred with coach Adam Forde back at the helm. They continued to push the pace, to shoot and they caught fire in blistering fashion to close the first half.

The Taipans outscored the Phoenix 30-12 the rest of the half to go from 13 down to eight up at the break. They maintained control through much of the second half including another 19 points to 13 in the third quarter on the way to the eventual nine-point win.

Kyle Adnam and Mitch Creek came out and knocked down early threes for South East Melbourne and when Alan Wiliams went to work inside as well, the visitors were soon up 16-11.

Tahjere McCall briefly steadied things for Cairns with three straight buckets, and despite triples for the home team from DJ Hogg and Majok Deng, it was all the Phoenix who were just unstoppable in the opening period.

South East Melbourne went on a 9-0 streak late in the period including a three ball from Grant Anticevich to see them take a 35-24 edge into quarter-time.

Williams then gave South East Melbourne the first points of the second quarter to put them up 37-24, but the game underwent a dramatic transformation there with the Taipans catching fire to the delight of the Orange Army heading into half-time.

Deng hit his second three of the game to begin proceedings, Bul Kuol warmed things up with a three-point play and then the Snakes scored 12 consecutive points including a triple from Hogg to grab the lead for the first time since the opening stages.

Shannon Scott, Hogg and McCall then all dropped three-pointers heading into half-time for Cairns as the home team closed the half on a 23-7 run. 

Hogg scored first to open the second half to put Cairns on top double-digits, and that advantage only continued to grow. By the time Ben Ayre scored his first points of the game with consecutive three balls, the Snakes were up 15 three minutes out from three quarter-time.

That Cairns lead was still 76-62 at the end of three and back out to 16 with just over six minutes to go, but the Phoenix showed good heart from there. They hit the next eight points beginning with consecutive three balls from Owen Foxwell.

The Phoenix comeback became more unlikely with Creek off the floor with an eye injury and it did prove the case even though they got back within six. The Taipans did enough to secure the important nine-point win.

STATISTICS

From the moment the Taipans trailed by 13 they outscored the Phoenix 30-12 to close the first half to lead 57-49 while nailing 10/18 from three-point range.

There were stars galore with Tahjere McCall and DJ Hogg combining for 28 points at the half for the Snakes while Mitch Creek and Kyle Adnam had 32 for the Phoenix with Cairns shooting at 52 per cent and South East Melbourne 51.

The victory is a fourth in-a-row for the Taipans all coming without Keanu Pinder as they improve to 14-7 on the season just behind the second placed New Zealand Breakers (13-6).

Tahjere McCall was in the middle of everything again for the Snakes for 24 points, five rebounds and four assists on 7/8 shooting from the floor and 8/8 at the stripe.

Shannon Scott was a strong contributor also with 19 points, seven assists and six rebounds with DJ Hogg scoring 16 points along with seven assists and five rebounds while landing 4/7 from three-point territory.

Ben Ayre also had 10 points for the Taipans, Majok Deng 10 points and five rebounds, Sam Waardenburg nine points and seven boards, and Bul Kuol five points and three boards.

STATEMENTS

Head Coach Adam Forde: 

"That's four games in eight days and to do it without Keanu, and having everybody step up on different occasions in different moments during this whole stretch was really important. It was great to see the guys get the result that they deserve. It wasn’t without its challenges and we found ourselves down again and the offence got a little bit stagnant on the third when we were getting stops. We were just rushing it a little bit on the offensive end and playing a little bit passive in the fourth, but then to reflect on the fact that this was probably our best shooting performance in a while. We do so on the back of this eight day road trip really given we were both at home on the road during it. I'm looking forward to a day off."

Taipans Big Man Sam Waardenburg:

"For me, it was a very physical game. I probably had to guard one of the strongest guys in the league so that was, fun. We were moving the ball well especially in that second quarter and a bit in the third, but we also got a bit stagnant. We've just got to keep being aggressive especially when we're up instead of trying to hold the lead or anything like that. That's our game, that's our identity is being that fast pace, aggressive team and I'm proud of the boys for coming out and getting this W especially after being down in that first quarter. Hopefully we can keep rolling."