Taipans battle hard in Melbourne on Good Friday

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans took the challenge right up to Melbourne United on Good Friday on the road, and while they came up short, they can take some heart from it for Sunday's home rematch.

The Taipans played their first home game in seven weeks on Sunday and snapped a five-game losing streak in the process by beating the Adelaide 36ers, and they brought that confidence with them to John Cain Arena on Good Friday.

It was always going to be a big test against a Melbourne team considered championship favourites and who had won three straight to sit second on the ladder and with import Scotty Hopson back into the line-up.

That was even more the case with Cairns found themselves 13 points down during the second quarter, but they responded well and put up a good fight.

The Snakes never surrendered and got back to within four points early in the fourth quarter, and then five again with just 45 seconds remaining. While they couldn’t quite get closer than that, there was still plenty to like and be encouraged about from the performance.

Cam Oliver had a fascinating battle all night with Jock Landale and finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and two steals.

Jordan Ngatai continued his career-best form with another standout performance with 17 points, five rebounds and two assists while knocking down 4/6 from three-point territory.

Scott Machado finished with 13 points, six assists and five rebounds while Nate Jawai again had moments of dominance down low in nearly 22 minutes of court time for 13 points, five rebounds and two blocks on 6/8 shooting.

Jarrod Kenny knocked down four triples for 12 points and four assists with Fabijan Krslovic adding six points and Mojave King five to go with three steals.

Taipans coach Mike Kelly was again proud of the fight the Snakes showed, but again it's frustrating they can't quite deliver it for 40 minutes to get some of these wins.

"The guys played hard and the guys have played hard so it's not like this was a total change of effort from the guys against a tough team who kind of nutted it out longer than we did," Kelly said. 

"They were able to grind and we stayed in it with some shot making from guys and controlled the boards a little bit better, or I should say didn’t let them control the boards as much as they did in the first half. We played some good basketball, it just hasn’t been for 40 minutes consistently."

It was Scott Machado who started strongly for the Taipans hitting the team's opening seven points before Jordan Ngatai began his strong first half with a three ball.

Jarrod Kenny would hit a triple too and then Nate Jawai came on for three buckets late in the first term, but Melbourne was still able to go into quarter-time leading 26-21.

Despite a Mojave King three to open the second quarter for Cairns, Melbourne soon went on a 10-0 run making the most of a couple of sloppy Taipans turnovers to turn their lead into a 13-point advantage.

But the Snakes showed good grit over the last five minutes of the first half starting with triples to Machado and Ngatai.

Ngatai then made his third from beyond the arc from the half before Jawai kept going to work, and then Cam Oliver closed it out with two big makes from deep to cut Melbourne's half-time advantage to just four points.

The Snakes got off to a horror start to the second half conceding the opening seven points, but they began to steady firstly through Machado and Oliver, and then a three ball from Fabijan Krslovic.

Kenny then continued his hot shooting with three big triples in a matter of minutes, and Oliver soon had the Snakes only trailing by four before settling at a nine-point deficit by three quarter-time.

Krslovic immediately brought the margin back to six to open the fourth quarter and it was back to just four after scores shortly after to Machado and Oliver.

Melbourne did steady with a 7-0 run, but the Taipans never gave up the ghost. Oliver, Jawai, Ngatai and King all scored down the stretch. The breakaway dunk from King off a steal made it a five-point game with 45 seconds left, but United finished the game with the five points to win by 10.

The Taipans are now back home on Easter Sunday to take on this same Melbourne United team at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 12

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 85 (Oliver 19, Ngatai 17, Jawai 13, Machado 13) 

MELBOURNE UNITED 95 (Landale 20, Goulding 16, Hopson 14)

BOX SCORE