Birthday Boy Noi With Walk Off Winner For Kings

It's the moment he was born for, 25 years ago. On his birthday, Kouat Noi capped off his most significant NBL performance by drilling the walk off three-pointer to give the Sydney Kings the 106-103 win over his former Cairns Taipans team.

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It was quite the offensive feast of a contest at Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday night with the Kings looking to stop their run of two straight home losses while the Taipans were out to remain undefeated on the road in NBL23.

The Snakes were on track leading by 11 early in the second half and again being up five with two minutes to go, but the Kings wouldn’t lie down. It was Shaun Bruce's cameo and the all-round brilliance of Xavier Cooks that kept them in it, and then it was Noi's moment to shine.

In his first season with the Kings after playing his first 57 NBL games with Cairns, he stepped up to deliver the three-point shot on the buzzer to break the deadlock and to walk off his new home floor having handed his new team the win after quite the spectacle.

Confidence has never been something Noi has lacked and that's why he handled the moment to finish with 13 points on 3/5 shooting from downtown.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">??? FORMER TAIPAN, BIRTHDAY BOY KING KOUAT NOI WINS THE GAME FOR SYDNEY ??? <a href="https://t.co/iS6YmATxCy">pic.twitter.com/iS6YmATxCy</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1586314636579655680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Cooks had a brilliant all-round game too for Sydney with 18 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists while 260-game veteran Bruce was superb in the second half to continue running the point ahead of Derrick Walton Jr.

Bruce finished with 17 points, four rebounds and three assists on 4/6 shooting from deep including two crucial late bombs as part of an 8-0 run.

DJ Vasiljevic also had 12 points for the Kings, Walton 12 points and three assists, Jordan Hunter 11 points and five rebounds, and Jaylin Galloway 10 points.

Kings coach Chase Buford was proud of the fight from his team to give themselves that chance to hit the game winner.

"I think it was more a feeling of pride and being happy for these guys," Buford said.

"For them to sack up in those moment and figure out a way to get a couple of stops, and get a couple of buckets, and not let missing a couple of free-throws kill us. 

"Then this guy next to me (Noi) makes the huge shot after DJ Hogg, man bless his heart, his a tough one to tie it up. It was a heck of a game and credit to Cairns, I felt like they couldn’t miss for a while and I'm wondering how we held them to 103. It felt like they might score 150 at one point."

It might have been a loss for Cairns, but there was so much to like in the performance particularly from the front court. DJ Hogg (27 points, 7/11 from deep), Sam Waardenburg (20 points, four rebounds, three assists) and Keanu Pinder (18 points, seven boards) were outstanding.

Majok Deng added 14 points for the Snakes while going 3/5 from downtown with Bul Kuol contributing 12 points and five assists, and Shannon Scott seven points, nine assists and five rebounds.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DJ Log(o) ???<br><br>Catch the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> action live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/KfJLcbt2m7">pic.twitter.com/KfJLcbt2m7</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1586301936373899266?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Taipans coach Adam Forde was frustrated that the Snakes couldn’t close out the game despite showing plenty more positive signs.

"We've got a group of guys in there who believe they should be 6-1. This is two games in-a-row that we've let our standards slip, we dropped this one and this is on us," Forde said.

"Credit to Sydney, great job but we felt like we should have walked out of here with the win. We had dudes in foul trouble and we have to do a better job defending without fouling, and we're jumping at shadows where for a good portion of that first half we stuck to the game plan of sinking it in. 

"Then suddenly we're chasing non-shooters on the perimeter like they are Steph Curry out there. There were a lot of errors on our end."

The Kings were lighting it up from beyond the arc early with DJ Vasiljevic and Tim Soares hitting, and then former Taipan Kouat Noi nailing consecutive bombs, but the Snakes were keeping pace up the other end.

A couple late threes from Majok Deng and then Lat Mayen's first NBL points on an offensive rebound helped Cairns to the 35-30 lead on a hot offensive opening period from both teams.

The Taipans shot 64 per cent from the field and the Kings 53 while they combined to go 9/15 from downtown.

The trend continued through the first half of the second quarter but then the Taipans took over to close the half and it was Kiwi rookie Sam Waardenburg at the forefront of it all. 

He, along with Keanu Pinder and DJ Hogg helped the Snakes produce a 17-4 run late in the half to go from four points down to nine points up before still leading 62-55 at the main break.

Waardenburg had 17 points for the Snakes with he, Hogg and Pinder combining for 38 points. The Kings did shoot 55 per cent but would have been frustrated with eight turnovers and to give up 62 points.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Get UP Galloway ??????????<br><br>Catch the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> action live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/llRV0QOPVH">pic.twitter.com/llRV0QOPVH</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1586295443255791616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Taipans then threatened to further run away with it to start the second with three-point plays to Pinder and Deng, and a long ball from Hogg as their lead grew to double-figures.

However, the Kings responded and a buzzer-beater from Xavier Cooks had them back on top by two at three quarter-time.

A three from Shaun Bruce to start the fourth helped push Sydney's lead out to six but the Taipans weren't done. Pinder scored four quick points but then soon fouled out with five minutes to play after a triple from Shannon Scott returned Cairns to the lead.

The lead continued to fluctuate until back-to-back threes for the Taipans from Hogg and Bul Kuol had them up five with two minutes to play.

The Kings responded and it was all Bruce. He drained back-to-back three-pointers and after missing two free-throws, he got the offensive rebound that led to a dunk from Cooks to put the home side up three.

Hogg nailed his seventh three to level scores once more but Sydney had time, and out of a timeout on the last play the ball got to Noi and he knocked down the game winner to cue the wild celebrations.

It's the only game of Round 5 for both teams with the Kings next up against the New Zealand Breakers in Auckland next Sunday. Before that, the Snakes host Melbourne United on Friday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 5

SYDNEY KINGS 106 (Cooks 18, Bruce 17, Noi 13)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 103 (Hogg 27, Waardenburg 20, Pinder 18) 

BOX SCORE