Taipans late charge not enough in final game

In their final game of the 2024-25 campaign, the Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans were unable to make a late comeback against the Tasmania JackJumpers, falling 90-83 on Saturday night in Hobart.

Suiting up for both side’s final fixtures of the season, a refreshed JackJumper squad was missing both Will Magnay and Sean MacDonald, whilst a Taipans lineup without Rob Edwards flew south to the Apple Isle less than 48 hours after taking down Brisbane.

Working through the duo of Taran Armstrong and Alex Higgins-Titsha early, Cairns were able to put points on the scoreboard efficiently to open their night, however matching each Taipan bucket with their own, the JackJumpers held even with the visitors.

With neither team able to build a margin, Milton Doyle stepped up to provide for Tasmania – firing perfectly from the field to put up 12 of their first 16 points – as the locals slowly stretched ahead.

As the first quarter wound down to the final seconds, Cairns rotated their starting five off the court as their bench unit were able to stop the flow of points, with Kyle Adnam blocking Tasmania’s attempt to stretch the margin past six points at the buzzer.

Returning from the first break, the JackJumpers looked to feed former Taipan Majok Deng who was able to build a run for his side – draining five points in 35 seconds to open the quarter – with Jordan Crawford joining him to extend the run.

Capitalising on Cairns’ turnovers, Tasmania were able to build a 16-7 run across the first five minutes of the second term before the Taipans bench unit were once more able to start ticking the scoreboard over consistently.

Reuniting again, Armstrong and Higgins-Titsha helped halve the once 19-point deficit back to eight points by the end of the half, with the forward leading his teammates with nine points at the break in only 11 minutes of action.

Hitting the court after the main break with the focus on drawing contact and heading to the free throw line, the Taipans were able to reel the margin back – going a perfect six from six at the stripe before Tasmania could hit the scoreboard themselves.

Despite not being able to find a single make from range and all of their points coming from inside the arc, they were able to maintain a single digit margin with both teams struggling to put points on the board.

Breaking the dry spell with their first triple of the night late in the third term, Kyrin Galloway pushed the pace to lead Cairns into the final break, with Pedro Bradshaw pulling it back to a five-point deficit.

Extending the lead back out to double digits, the JackJumpers looked to end their season with a major win – opening the quarter with six unanswered points, before a Jordan Crawford barrage from range began.

Inserting Jonah Antonio to help reel the margin in from range, the guard immediately fired to bring the gap back to single digits before Crawford replied with his own triple.

Providing the spark that they needed, the Taipan cashed in again to draw Cairns ever closer, however they were unable to close the gap with Tasmania holding onto a seven-point margin at the final buzzer.

Leading his teammates on the offensive end, Tanner Groves ended with 17 points, eight boards and a dime, with fellow Taipan Taran Armstrong contributing 16 of his own points at 87% from inside the arc, with five rebounds, four dimes and a steal to go along with it.

Putting up the best scoring performance of his career, Alex Higgins-Titsha scored 15 points across the night, with four rebounds, an assist and a block, as well as drawing five fouls despite only fouling twice himself.

“We had some really good looks – we probably had some forced attempts and had some really good looks that didn’t drop for us – and we missed some bunnies at the rim, so it just seemed like everything was a struggle and a battle to just tick the scoreboard over,” explained Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde.

“This is probably one of the most enjoyable groups that I’ve been part of because we went through the real dark times with that 15-game losing streak, and then we came out in the New Year and gone 5-5.

“And it’s not like we’ve been playing lights out basketball, but just we’ve just been playing with the group available and with a little more confidence, and I’ve been really proud of them.

“It’s a bit of a double-edged sword in a sense that we get to bring these guys in and see them grow and blossom, and then you lose them. But it’s cool that we got some things right in that regards – for Alex, this was his only chance at being an NBL player and he’s just done a great job of cementing himself as a contracted player for the next 10 years.”

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