Brave Snakes strike late in thriller

The Cairns Taipans had every reason to think everything was stacked against them but a Lat Mayen walk off three-pointer delivered them a stunning 93-92 road NBL victory over the Illawarra Hawks.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BANGGGG ?<br><br>What a sequence ?<br><br>Lat Mayen for the win ? <a href="https://t.co/dqPAUlSAQT">pic.twitter.com/dqPAUlSAQT</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1747928803916316724?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 18, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Despite having key trio Tahjere McCall, Akoldah Gak and Taran Armstrong fouling out, and big men Sam Waardenburg and Bobi Klintman not playing, the Snakes wouldn’t be denied at WIN Entertainment Centre.

Taipans coach Adam Forde was proud of how his team didn’t let a lobsided foul count (32 free-throws for Illawarra to 11 from Cairns) distract them.

"I can't fault the effort and hustle of the guys, and if anybody was losing their mind out there it was me with the way the game was officiated," he said.

"For us to be able to trust whoever we put on the floor and do their part in it, it was outstanding."

Cairns were looking to make it back-to-back wins and to replace the Hawks in the top six, and ended up doing that despite having plenty working against them.

Fouls continued to plague the Taipans as they sent the Hawks to the free-throw line 32 times (they made just 20) with Gak (five points, 11 rebounds) and Armstrong (nine points, six assists, six rebounds) fouling out early in the fourth.

McCall (28 points, seven rebounds, six assists) joined them late after his starring performance.

The Snakes were up against it from a personnel front with the challenge of stopping the Illawarra big men daunting. That proved the case too with Gary Clark threatening to play match-winner for the Hawks.

The NBA veteran of 177 games produced his best performance in the NBL for the Hawks with 36 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the floor and 10-of-14 at the foul line, but it wasn’t enough.

The Taipans did work their way on top in the second quarter to go into half-time leading 44-40 and remained narrow leaders most of the second half, including by five with three minutes to play after a triple from Bul Kuol (14 points) on a Josh Roberts offensive rebound.

Tyler Harvey (13 points, six assists) produced a trademark late three to tie scores up for Illawarra soon after. Clark produced a three-point play to get McCall out of the game and the Hawks were up 92-90 with 12 seconds to go.

That set up the final possession and after Patrick Miller (16 points, five assists) missed a driving attempt, he was able to collect the offensive rebound and dish out to a wide open Mayen.

The forward has never lacked confidence and his three-point attempt never looked missing for him to finish with 11 points and deliver the Snakes the one-point win to improve to 11-12 and replace the now 9-11 Hawks in sixth position.

It was a frustrated Hawks coach Justin Tatum with his team losing consecutive for the first time since he replaced Jacob Jackomas.

"Allowing 29 second chance points and us going 20-of-32 from the free-throw line, that's what I was most frustrated with," he said.

"We were adamant on working on our free-throws the last couple of days because it's something that was our kryptonite, and missing those shots meant we were unable put the game away, or to give us the lead."

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 16

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 92 (Clark 36, Harvey 13, Swaka Lo Buluk 11)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 93 (McCall 28, Miller 16, Kuol 14)

BOX SCORE