Round 15: Taipans beat Breakers for sixth straight

CQUniversity Cairns Taipans (85) def. New Zealand Breakers (83)
Round 15 | Spark Arena
Next Game: Taipans v JackJumpers, Friday 20 January 6:30pm AEST

SUMMARY

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans made it six straight NBL wins and five in the absence of superstar Keanu Pinder with a strong 85-83 victory at Auckland's Spark Arena over the New Zealand Breakers to stay clear in second spot.

It was a bright start on the road for the Snakes with DJ Hogg and Tahjere McCall combining for the first four points. Rayan Rupert was aggressive early for New Zealand to open their scoring before Jarrell Brantley added his team's next five points.

Rupert drained a three soon after to keep the Breakers up one but the Taipans worked their way back on top and closing the quarter with strong defence to limit the Breakers to shooting 5/16 helped them lead 21-14 with three balls to Shannon Scott and DJ Hogg.

It was all Bul Kuol to start the second quarter and when he hit a three to open proceedings, coach Mody Maor was livid with his Breakers and called a timeout. It didn't immediately work because Kuol forced a turnover and scored on the breakaway.

He then hit another three ball to push the Cairns lead to 10 and it soon became as much as 13 leading into half-time when McCall hit one from deep as well.

The Breakers had nine turnovers up to that point, but were able to steady going into the break and a couple of late threes from Will McDowell-White saw them cut the Taipans advantage to 48-40.

McCall (14), Kuol (13) and Hogg (12) combined for 39 of those 48 Cairns points as they shot 56 per cent as a team with the Breakers greatly benefitting from McDowell-White's 17 points and 13 from Brantley.

It was quite the statement start to the second half from Sam Waardenburg back in his hometown. He drove by Dererk Pardon and threw down a two-handed slam over McDowell-White to put his team back up 10.

Waardenburg converted a three-point play too soon after with Cairns going back up 11 before the Breakers worked back into the contest beginning with consecutive three balls from Brantley.

Lat Mayen was the man to steady the Snakes. Having only scored four points all season and none since November 4, he made two straight baskets for Cairns.

It was the Breakers who finished the quarter with a three from McDowell-White, and then a pair from Cam Gliddon to cut the Taipans advantage to 68-65.

Cairns were back up seven early in the fourth after back-to-back threes courtesy of Ben Ayre and Scott. Out of a timeout, McDowell-White hit his fifth long ball of the game to bring the Breakers back within four.

With just under three minutes to play, McDowell-White hit a spectacular three to bring New Zealand within two, but the Taipans kept having the answers. A tough bucket to McCall and then putback from Kuol had them back on top by six with 1:50 to play.

The game wasn’t done yet. Brantley forced a steal and an unsportsmanlike foul was called on Hogg. Brantley made the free-throws, Pardon scored also soon after and with a minute to play it was a two-point ball game once more.

After two Cairns free-throws to Scott, McDowell-White knocked down his seventh three ball of the game to bring New Zealand back within one. Eventually Kuol's lone free-throw was the last score of the game in a dramatic finish to see the Snakes win by two.

STATISTICS

What it means is that the Taipans are on a six-game winning streak without Pinder to be clear in second spot at 16-7. The Breakers have lost three in-a-row to be third at 13-9.

Bul Kuol, DJ Hogg and Tahjere McCall all scored 18 points apiece for Cairns. Kuol shot 7/12 from the field to go with five rebounds. McCall also had five rebounds and three steals with Hogg adding six boards and two steals.

Shannon Scott contributed 10 points, three rebounds and three assists, and Sam Waardenburg seven points and 10 rebounds.

Ben Ayre finished with six points and three assists, Lat Mayen a crucial four points and three rebounds, and Majok Deng four points and three boards.

STATEMENTS

Head Coach Adam Forde: 

"I think we tried to do everything we could to try and lose that there at the end. New Zealand called a timeout and we wanted to run some key, specific things to close out and on three possessions in-a-row we didn’t do that. It's probably a good time to do it now because those types of errors we don’t want to make come finals time. We'll address those things and they're all definitely workable so I'm just happy for the guys to close out another gritty win."

Taipans Forward Lat Mayen:

"They're a physical team you know, so you just have to match that energy the whole time. Whether they're going hot or not, you know they're going to be physical. I have just been trying to stay in the moment for real so whatever the offence or defence gave me, that's what I was going to take. It was about believing myself and backing myself with whatever I did."