Wildcats Take Down Taipans as Adnam Brings Up 250

The Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans couldn’t overcome a red-hot Perth Wildcats outfit on Wednesday night, going down 78-110 at the Cairns Convention Centre despite a milestone night for Kyle Adnam, who played his 250th NBL game.

Perth’s scoring trio proved the difference, with Jo Lual-Acuil Jr (24 points), Kristian Doolittle (18 points and eight rebounds) and Elijah Pepper (18 points and four assists) combining to overpower Cairns on both ends of the floor.

Kyrin Galloway lit up the Convention Centre with a confident triple to open proceedings, but the Wildcats answered immediately behind import Doolittle, who exploded for 11 first-quarter points on 5-for-5 shooting. Perth’s inside dominance — 20 points in the paint in the opening term — gave them a 30-22 edge after the first break.

Milestone man Adnam was injected into the game early as the Snakes faced Perth’s high press, which forced the home side to grind for every inch up the floor. With Jack McVeigh (wrist) missing his second straight game and Sam Waardenburg still sidelined, Cairns struggled to punch through the Wildcats’ relentless defensive wall.

The Taipans showed flashes in the second quarter through import guard Andrew Andrews (10 points and four assists), who scored seven points in a quick burst and Cairns local Kody Stattmann, who provided spark off the bench with a season-high 10 points. Admiral Schofield continued to fight and finished the night with a team-high 16 points and five rebounds. 

But the Wildcats’ transition game proved ruthless. Jo Lual-Acuil Jr and Elijah Pepper punished every turnover as Perth ballooned the margin to 60-42 at halftime and as high as 19 points in the second quarter. Despite a more disciplined defensive stretch to open the third — led by Marcus Lee and Galloway — the visitors continued to find easy baskets on the break and finished the game with 58 points in the paint. 

Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde

“We allowed (Lual-Acuil Jr) and (Doolittle) to go on their (preferred) right hand and finish at the rim. We can talk about making adjustments and sending double teams, but we didn’t sit on their shoulder to start with and send them in their (non-preferred) direction.”

Forde said the Taipans are still adjusting to life without key forwards McVeigh and Waardenburg, with several players forced to take on heavier roles.

"We have some guys playing out of position and shouldering more of the load than we originally anticipated. That’s not changing anytime soon. This is something we need to fix.

"It is unusual — we have a close game against Adelaide and now a blowout against Perth when we had a close game against them last time. It’s a roll of the dice at the moment, and we just need everyone to play not perfect basketball, but to their averages and their potential. But when we have two or three players having a rough trot at it, it shows immediately and you get a result like tonight.”

Facing a short turnaround, the Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans will return to their home court less than 48 hours after facing the Wildcats. Flying into the Far North for their first visit to Cairns this season, Melbourne United will face the Taipans at 6:30pm on Friday night - get your tickets HERE.