Taipans suffer in second half against Wildcats

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans did a lot right in the first half of their NBL Cup encounter against the Perth Wildcats but couldn’t quite sustain it on Friday night to open the second week in Melbourne.

The Snakes started the NBL Cup well with a come from behind win over the Illawarra Hawks and then a strong showing against Melbourne United despite a narrow loss so they came into the game with the Wildcats with high hopes of continuing on that form.

The 'Cats had won their opening two matches of the NBL Cup as well and what eventuated was a tight and spirited opening half. Perth got the better of the first term and Cairns the better of the second with the Taipans heading into half-time only down by two points with the game right on the line.

The Snakes then opened the second half well enough too keeping Perth to just two points in the opening four minutes. But things didn’t go as planned over the game's last 16 minutes and the Wildcats managed to get on top and end up coming away with the 89-69 victory.

Being outscored 46 to 28 in the second half wasn’t quite what the Snakes were after, but there's little time to stew over it. They look to bounce back quickly on Sunday also at John Cain Arena against a Brisbane Bullets team fresh off beating the Hawks in earlier starting game on Friday.

Cam Oliver did battle manfully all evening for the Taipans finishing with 19 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots while shooting 8/14 from the field and 3/6 from three-point territory.

Fabijan Krslovic stepped into the starting line-up with the absence of the injured Majok Deng and fought valiantly for 10 points and six rebounds.

Scott Machado's shot might not have been falling, but he still had eight points and eight assists.

Kouat Noi added eight points and five rebounds, Mirko Djeric eight points and three boards, Jordan Ngatai six points and two rebounds, Mojave King three points, Jarrod Kenny three points and two assists, George Blagojevic two points, and Nate Jawai two points and two rebounds.

Taipans coach Mike Kelly came away feeling like the Snakes need to go back to working on getting better shots on offence and finding a way to deliver 40 minutes of consistent basketball at both ends.

"We played really hard. We tried to defend even though we have up some open looks. We switched that around in the third quarter and Perth did a good job of just pressuring us a little bit and it changed our flow offensively and we didn't run a lot in the second half," Kelly said.

"I think Perth's defence had something to do with us not shooting as well from three. Some of our shots that we missed were contested. It wasn't so much that we missed shots or that we should just change what we were looking for, it's that we should run offence that gets better shots.

"I think we need to learn and continue to strive for playing 40 really good minutes. We had some good clashes and some good physical defence... we need to extend that."

The Taipans started well enough with a couple of early scores to Kouat Noi and then Scott Machado got in the act. Mojave King got an early run as well and knocked down a three ball as did Mirko Djeric before Perth pulled away just before quarter-time to be up 25-17.

Djeric then opened up the second period with another triple and when the Taipans went on a 7-0 run, they were back level with the Wildcats in no time.

Things remained close the rest of the opening half with Perth only narrowly leading 43-41 at the main break.

Cam Oliver knocked down a big triple to open the second half and the Snakes did well to hold the Wildcats to just two points and one field goal in the first four minutes of the third quarter.

It didn't quite last, though, and the 'Cats scored nine points before George Blagojevic stemmed the tide. Jarrod Kenny also knocked down a couple of free-throws but by three quarter-time Perth's lead had grown to 11.

Oliver tried to do his best to inspire a comeback from the Snakes but Perth's lead continued to grow. It got to as much as 26 before the Taipans did score the last six points including a breakaway dunk from Fabijan Krslovic on the buzzer.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 7
NBL CUP WEEK 2

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 69 (Oliver 19, Krslovic 10, Machado 8, Noi 8, Djeric 8)

PERTH WILDCATS 89 (Cotton 23, Mooney 17, Blanchfield 15) 

POINTS AWARDED – Perth Wildcats 6, Cairns Taipans 1

BOX SCORE