Round 9: Taipans overrun by 36ers in Adelaide

CQUniversity Cairns Taipans (75) lost to Adelaide 36ers (78)
Round 9 | Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Next Game: Taipans v Hawks, Saturday 10 December 4:30pm AEST

SUMMARY

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans suffered a nail-biting loss in a frantic finish at Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Friday night with the Adelaide 36ers snatching the 78-75 victory.

The Snakes dominated the opening half of the contest to lead by as much as 19 points in the second quarter and were in control virtually all evening before the Sixers snatched the lead with a minute to go and held on at the finish.

A 6-0 run put the Snakes up 6-2 early doors and that advantage soon became 13-6 on the back of a three-pointer from Tahjere McCall and then a dunk from Keanu Pinder on his old home floor.

Adelaide did respond after a CJ Bruton timeout with a triple from Sunday Dech, but the Snakes had come to play and scored the game's next 12 points in a stunning streak leading into quarter-time.

It included a three-point bomb from Bul Kuol with the Snakes in control up 27-12 after one on the back of shooting 50 per cent from the floor to Adelaide's 29, and scoring 11 points off the seven turnovers and holding Robert Franks and Daniel Johnosn scoreless.

Early threes in the second period from Jonah Antonio and Shannon Scott saw the Cairns lead grow to 19 and Adelaide had to make a stand. They briefly did with the next seven points, but the Taipans continued to have all the answers.

DJ Hogg opened his account with a dunk shortly before half-time to see his team lead 47-32 at the major break with 18 points off the 11 Adelaide turnovers, and 24 points in the paint to 14 with neither team shooting well from deep – going a combined 6/27.

The Sixers did open the second half with more energy with Antonius Cleveland leading the charge. Nick Marshall also nailed a three to bring the margin back to single-figures.

The 36ers were able to get back within five late in the third term but a triple on the buzzer from McCall saw the Taipans still lead 63-55 after three.

A third McCall three-pointer on the night early in the fourth saw Cairns' lead soon back out to 11 when he found Pinder for the alley-oop finish.

Cairns were still up eight with 4:30 to go but Adelaide weren’t done. Cleveland's defence was inspiring them and turning into points up the other end. When he stole Scott's inbounds pass, he went up for a dunk and the margin was just two with three minutes to play.

A minute and-a-half later and Dech scored to bring scores level and then inexplicably McCall turned it over when he didn’t ground himself for the inbounds pass. 

It didn’t prove a fatal error but the Sixers did snatch the lead 30 seconds later on the back of an offensive rebound and putback from who else – Cleveland.

Soon after Cairns ended a three-minute scoring rout with McCall nailing both free-throws and it came down to Adelaide having possession with 4.4 seconds to go. Out of the timeout, Franks fumbled the three-point attempt, but was fouled by McCall on the second go.

The decision stood after Adam Forde challenged it and Franks won the game for the 36ers by nailing 3/3 at the stripe.

STATISTICS

The Taipans will be frustrated to lose after being in such a commanding position with Tahjere McCall finishing with 24 points.

Keanu Pinder added 12 points and eight rebounds, Sam Waardenburg eight points, five rebounds and three steals, and DJ Hogg seven points, three boards and three assists.

Bul Kuol also finished with seven points and two blocks, Shannon Scott five points, six rebounds and six assists, Jonah Antonio five points and three boards, Majok Deng four points and six rebounds, and Ben Ayre three points and two assists.

The 18 turnovers for the Taipans in the finish will be a concern for coach Adam Forde as were the 17 offensive rebounds Adelaide pulled down for the 14 second chance points.

STATEMENTS

Head Coach Adam Forde: 

"The reality is that we gave up 17 offensive rebounds. There was just more effort applied from them and credit to them. Adelaide weren’t shooting particularly well like us, but they did a good job generating turnovers and leading out to their own attack breaks. But really, guys like Hyrum Harris came off the bench and just crashed the rebounds, and were beating us up with the hustle effort. Unfortunately that was really telling throughout the game. That was one we had, sure, but Adelaide did a fantastic job bringing themselves back into it."

Taipans big man Sam Waardenburg:

"I think it was just their hustle. They dominated us on the boards and we came out in that second half just getting dominated. We gave up too many o-boards, Hyrum did an amazing job coming off the bench and changing the game for them. This is adversity that we are going to have to look back at and get better from. If we are going to be a great team we have to adapt to that adversity and come out better from it."