Taipans battle hard in Apple Isle but suffer cruel blow

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans looked every bit on target for a fourth consecutive NBL victory in Hobart on Friday night before losing Scott Machado to injury and the Tasmania JackJumpers ending up winning 87-80.

The JackJumpers' fairytale playoff aspirations took a hit with a 20-point loss to the Sydney Kings on their home floor on Sunday and this was always going to be a challenge against an in-form Taipans at MyState Bank Arena.

The Snakes arrived in their best patch of form of the season having won three straight, and four of the last five, and they threw the gauntlet right down to the JackJumpers.

The Taipans were nine points up by half-time and still leading by four midway through the third period. Cairns point guard Scott Machado went off injured and the whole complexion of the game changed.

The JackJumpers were able to score the next 14 points to go from four down to 10 up. While the Taipans kept fighting, Tasmania did enough to secure the seven-point win to improve to 14-11 on the season as they attempt to chase down the 15-9 Perth Wildcats.

The 16 offensive rebounds for 18 second chance points from the JackJumpers proved pivotal in the final result as they won the battle on the glass over the Taipans by 10.

The Taipans were clearly rattled by the lower leg injury to Machado midway through the third quarter, but still fought the game out valiantly.

Nate Jawai was a powerful force and produced 17 points on 5/6 shooting with 7/7 from the foul line while Tahjere McCall marked his return with 14 points while Majok Deng had 13, Keanu Pinder 13 and Bul Kuol 11.

Kouat Noi also had five points and six rebounds for Cairns, Machado four points, five assists and three rebounds before getting hurt, and Jarrod Kenny three points, two boards and two assists.

The emotions over the injury to Machado of which the seriousness is still not known was the overriding factor for Taipans coach Adam Forde.

"We've had a few issues in the third quarter and we knew coming out of half-time that Tassie do a great job with all the energy and hustle," Forde said. 

"They started off scoring off an offensive rebound so that hurts and they were doing a good job at slowing us down, and we couldn’t get through anything. 

"Scott going down rattled the whole group, myself included, so it took us a while to regroup from that, but the reality was Tassie did a great job of doing all those one percenters, and 10 offensive rebounds in the second half including on that foul shot with the game in the balance is what really hurt us."

The JackJumpers got off to the perfect start beginning with a triple from Josh Adams and then a jumper from Fabijan Krslovic against his former team. The Taipans steadied courtesy of Keanu Pinder and Bul Kuol which has become commonplace in recent times.

Josh Magette drained a triple to put Tasmania on top 10-6 but Tahjere McCall was enjoying his return for the next two buckets for Cairns. Nate Jawai then turned the game in favour of the Taipans when he hit the floor and his team went on an 8-0 as a result.

An and-one from Kuol and open three from McCall then ensured the Taipans still led 22-19 by quarter-time.

MiKyle McIntosh and then Jack McVeigh helped Tasmania started the second quarter well and Taipans coach Adam Forde wasn’t happy. He was even less happy with Sam McDaniel and Clint Steindl knocking down threes for the home team to put them up 31-27.

However, the Snakes responded impressively starting with a triple from Kuol. Jawai again was just too much for Tasmania to handle inside and he had seven more points, and then three balls to Kuol and Majok Deng saw the Taipans in control leading 49-40 by the half-time break.

Tasmania came out firing to start the second half and it was McVeigh providing the spark with eight quick points including two big makes from downtown before Pinder did steady Cairns with a couple of free-throws.

However, Machado going down hurt for Cairns did unfortunately change the tide of the match and in amidst the Taipans losing their general, the JackJumpers went on a 14-0 scoring run including triples from Adams and McVeigh, and some inspired work by Jarred Bairstow.

As a result Tasmania was up seven by three quarter-time and then Jarrad Weeks connected from deep to open the fourth term.

Cairns refused to go away, though, and even got all the way back within three points after a McCall and-one in the final minute, but it was again Weeks hitting from deep that delivered the final blow for Tasmania's win.

The Taipans now return home to host Melbourne United on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 19

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 80 (Jawai 17, McCall 14, Deng 13, Pinder 13) 

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 87 (McVeigh 16, Magette 13, McIntosh 11)

BOX SCORE