Taipans Reward Orange Army by Torching United

Saturday, November 5, 2022

It might have been third time lucky, but the Cairns Taipans put on quite the show at home on Friday night by putting up 51 of the second half's first 70 points to hammer Melbourne United 97-72.

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The Snakes had lost both games this season at Cairns Convention Centre coming into Friday night's contest but it was worth the wait for the local fans as their team put on a show highlighting their full offensive arsenal combined with effective defence.

The Taipans were without Tahjere McCall, Sam Waardenburg, Mirko Djeric and Jonah Antonio, but it didn’t matter as they turned an eight-point half-time edge into a 40-point lead during the fourth quarter on the way to the eventual 25-point win.

The Snakes ended up draining 15/36 from three-point land for the night including DJ Hogg going 5/10 and Ben Ayre and Bul Kuol hitting three of them, and Shannon Scott two.

The Taipans also forced United into 20 turnovers from which they scored 30 points while having just nine turnovers themselves and winning the rebound count, and taking 20 free-throws to just eight from Melbourne.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ben Ayre is on fire ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/XSG2PRvIJE">pic.twitter.com/XSG2PRvIJE</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1588472304891097088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The spread was impressive from Cairns as well with six players scoring in double-figures with Keanu Pinder finishing with 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Bul Kuol 18 points and four boards.

DJ Hogg added 17 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals, Ben Ayre 16 points and five boards, Shannon Scott 13 points, six boards, six assists and three steals, and Majok Deng 10 points and five rebounds.

Taipans coach Adam Forde was happy with his team afterwards but a little shorter on words than usual.

"We got our delay of games down from three to two so we are progressing in the right direction," Forde said.

"Especially when adversity was presented to us, it was a great effort from the boys. For us (the defensive end) is where the game is won and lost and the guys that we recruited bring it every day and every night.

"It was a great energy out there and I'm always supportive of anyone who backs us, and the loyal fans came out to support us in force tonight so it was great. Especially for us this (FIBA break) ends up being perfect timing."

United slips to 4-5 with the loss and will lick their wounds before Sunday's Throwdown with Isaac Humphries finishing with 17 points and eight rebounds, Chris Goulding 12 points and four assists, and Makuach Maluach 10 points.

However, import guards Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Rayjon Tucker struggled for an impact combining for 10 points on 4/14 shooting.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kuol ATTACKS ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/K5ZLL35F3c">pic.twitter.com/K5ZLL35F3c</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1588457714648199168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

United coach Dean Vickerman heaped praise on the Taipans, but lamented his team's performance from late in the first half onwards.

"Credit to Cairns, they had some bodies go down and had a limited bench a little bit to what they've had in the past, and I thought they had some people pretty excited by the opportunity presented for them," Vickerman said.

"I was disappointed going into the half how we closed the second quarter, but I could see our energy levels wavering and we did some things that aren’t winning habits. That's what I'm so made about with this group, we took some steps forward with the Perth game but we just waver right now.

"We saw that in the third quarter where we couldn’t get a stop, we couldn’t get a rebound and that game blew out very quickly in the way that they kept coming downhill and making shots, or getting to the foul line. Anytime they did miss they were coming up with second possessions."

Melbourne scored the first four points through front court pair Isaac Humphries and David Okwera before Cairns got on the board beginning with a three-pointer from Bul Kuol.

However, the Snakes missed their other six three-point attempts for the quarter and went 5/17 overall, but Melbourne wasn’t much better at 6/18 and as a result scores were locked at 15-apiece by quarter-time.

The Taipans started to find their groove in the second quarter, though, and drained 5/9 from downtown along the way with DJ Hogg and Ben Ayre leading the charge combining for 17 points.

Cairns' defence forced Melbourne into nine turnovers from which they scored 15 points to go into the half-time break leading 41-33.

The third quarter saw the Taipans light up Cairns Convention Centre for the first time this season and send the Orange Army into raptures. It started with the first six points of the second half with Majok Deng and Bul Kuol finishing on the break.

Keanu Pinder dominated for a stretch scoring eight of nine points in a 9-0 scoring run with the Taipans lead getting out to 21 points in the matter of five minutes of the third quarter.

Kuol, Hogg and Shannon Scott all hit three-pointers to close out the third quarter with Cairns piling on 30 points to just 10 from Melbourne to see the home team on top 71-43 by three quarter-time.

The Snakes were far from done, in fact they really wanted to put on a show for the home fans knowing they don't have another game for two weeks.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SHANNON SCOTT WITH THE CHASE DOWN BLOCK ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/dKOZcdWlCu">pic.twitter.com/dKOZcdWlCu</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1588467014934274050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Triples from Ayre, Scott and Hogg helped blow the lead out further to 37 points midway through the fourth quarter. It got out to as much as 40 before the Snakes cruised to the thumping 25-point win.

The Taipans now don't play again until after the FIBA break when they take on the Bullets in Brisbane on Saturday November 19. United will return home to face the South East Melbourne Phoenix in a Throwdown on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 6

CAIRNS TAIPANS 97 (Pinder 18, Kuol 18, Hogg 17)

MELBOURNE UNITED 72 (Humphries 17, Goulding 12, Maluach 10)

BOX SCORE