Cairns blast past Brisbane in the Summer Shootout

Facing their Queensland rivals for the third time this season, the Taipans suited up for their nominated Summer Shootout game to face a lineup missing six of their recruits through injuries.

Notching his fifth first basket and 12th first team basket of the season, Sam Waardenburg opened the Taipans' account quickly, with Taran Armstrong following up with another bucket before the Bullets were able to hit the scoreboard.

After both sides struggled to find the basket, the Taipans locked in – draining triple after triple to stretch the margin close to double digits with Rob Edwards orchestrating a 14-5 start to the game.

Despite dominating the glass, the Bullets struggled to contain the ball, with Cairns taking advantage of their extra opportunities by draining bucket after bucket.

Leading the charge, Edwards dropped 13 points in the opening term – including three triples – as the Taipans earnt themselves a seven-point lead in a high scoring first quarter.

Fighting back, Brisbane quickly narrowed the lead to a single bucket before the Taipans struck back, once more stretching out the margin.

Whilst Cairns only allowed two turnovers across the first 20 minutes of action, the Bullets conceded the ball six times – five of which the Taipans scored from.

Generating extra plays for themselves with the ball often finding the bottom of the basket, Cairns’ efficiency reached as high as 63% from the field, and 71% from behind the arc.

Continuing to lead the team, Edward’s performance only continued to improve as the American reached 22 points by the main break – only 11 points shy of his season best despite only seeing 19 minutes of action - with a buzzer beater by the guard bringing Cairns' lead to 17 points.

EDWARDS ICE COLD IN THE SUMMER SHOOTOUT 🥶

📲 @cairnstaipans | 📺 @ESPNAusNZ pic.twitter.com/TaPWCIjQjL

— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) January 17, 2025

Once more launching a run at the start of a quarter, the Bullets focused their attack in the paint to slowly reduce the margin, however each bucket was replied to in force as the Taipans didn’t allow the gap to reduce into single digits.

Despite missing both Rocco Zikarsky and Tyrell Harrison, Brisbane were still able to hold their own against their Queensland counterparts to outrebound them 16-6 in the third quarter.

Earning themselves extra chances, the Bullets looked set to launch a comeback as the final term approached, however the continuing turnovers alongside a lower shooting efficiency meant that the Taipans were once more able to build out the margin.

After their electric shooting performance earlier in the night, it was a slow start to the final 10 minutes of play for the Taipans, as after Armstrong dropped two quick buckets to extend the lead to 22 points, none of his teammates were able to score for nearly four minutes.

Sharing the ball around to look for the most efficient shot, the Bullets looked to take advantage of Cairns’ shooting woes, however embarked on their own dry spell as they also struggled to put points on the board.

Entering the final five minutes of action, the Taipans returned to their starting unit to find a spark as they looked to run up the score for the Summer Shootout, with their starters restarting the flow of points.

With the game sealed, the contest quickly turned into a scoring frenzy with both AK Gak and Kyrin Galloway slamming home dunks as Cairns put up 24 in five minutes of play.

Already surpassing Perth’s 105-point performance in Tasmania, the Taipans were not content – first fouling Josh Bannan to ensure that they saw the ball again, before calling a timeout to setup the final play for Edwards, who also rose above the rim for a dunk.

Sealing top spot for the Summer Shootout with a 111-point performance, Rob Edwards brought himself to 35 points at 65% for his best night in the NBL since joining the league, along with three assists, a board and a steal.

Falling shy of a double-double, Tanner Groves contributed 17 points at 75% with eight rebounds, a dime, steal and a block, with Taran Armstrong contributing 17 points, six rebounds and four assists with no turnovers himself.

That's 15 points from Tanner Groves in the half! 👏

📲 @cairnstaipans | 📷 @espn pic.twitter.com/5CO2Q7iF2J

— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) January 17, 2025

“Obviously we’re not play-in position, but we are playing for pride, and the guys showed up and played for four quarter – it was a bit shaky in the third – but as I have been all season, I’m proud of the group,” explained Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde.

“The final timeout wasn’t any disrespect to Brisbane, it was purely to try and runup the scoreboard up a little knowing that’s the initiative that the NBL is running, and we want to support it.

“Kyle has really found his way into just being a good facilitator for us, so when you share the ball handling responsibilities between Rob, Taran and Kyle, they all bring something uniquely different.”

“I think that we just came together as a team, and we know how many games we have left and how many practices we have left, and we went ‘How do you want to go out, do we just want to keep on losing or do we want to at least go out with a bang’, so I think that was most of our motivation,” Taipans guard Rob Edwards said.

“We decided that everybody who stepped out there was just going to play free – don’t worry about making mistakes, and just do what you can to make the squad.”

The Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans will now return home ahead of their IFYS Blackout game on Sunday night, with the Adelaide 36ers making the trip into the tropics for the clash. Tickets for the 3:30pm fixture are available HERE!