Kenny, Machado heroics can't quite get Snakes home

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans started their first road game of the season on fire and then received late heroics from Jarrod Kenny and Scott Machado, but the Brisbane Bullets won on the buzzer 105-103 in the first overtime period.

After playing their opening five matches of the 2021 NBL season at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena, the Taipans hit the road for the first time to take on Queensland rivals the Bullets on Saturday.

Determined to put a four-game losing slide behind them, the Taipans started on fire with Majok Deng returning to the starting line-up and draining three bombs in the opening quarter.

Cam Oliver then took over and on the back 18 points in the first half with the Taipans shooting 54 per cent from the field and going 8/17 from long range, they were in control by 15 at the half.

Despite Oliver and Deng fouling out during the fourth quarter, the Taipans still did well to force the game into overtime with Jarrod Kenny knocking down a tying three-pointer to make it 90-90.

Kenny hit another early in overtime too before Machado went on to show his class and big shot mentality with two monster tying three balls. But the Bullets still had six seconds left and Vic Law was able to drive to the basket and finish to give his team the 105-103 victory.

The first half performance from the Snakes was brilliant even dominating the boards on top of the impressive shooting, and the second half still saw them give themselves a shot and that was even after Deng and Oliver fouled out who had combined for 36 points and 14 rebounds.

The loss will be tough to take especially given it extends things to a five-game losing streak with the Taipans 1-5, but a performance like that is going to lead to more wins than not.

Machado had a terrific game for Cairns with 23 points, 10 assists and five rebounds including those eight massive points in overtime to give the Taipans a chance.

Before fouling out, Oliver had 21 points and eight rebounds on 8/13 shooting with Deng enjoying returning to the starting group for 15 points and six boards including 3/5 from deep.

Mirko Djeric came up with some big plays too for 11 points, six rebounds and six assists while Kouat Noi had 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Kenny hit three triples for the game and was a strong all-round performer with nine points, five rebounds and four assists while Nate Jawai also had nine points, Jordan Ngatai two and Fabijan Krslovic two along with five rebounds.

Taipans coach Mike Kelly saw plenty to like from the performance but ultimately coming away with a loss means there's always things needing to be improved upon.

"I thought we played a great first half and defended very well, and took care of the ball and made some shots," Kelly said.

"We shot the ball really well in the first half. In the second half they got free some and we turned the ball over a little bit, and I'm still processing it. I think you just take the goods and say let's keep going with that and improve on the things they exploited in the second half. 

"They pressured us some, they went after Scott and we got some really good looks that we didn’t knock down. Then they got free a few times and I don’t know how to process it other than to say our guys played well and with heart, and Brisbane came through and made some big shots."

Majok Deng was back starting for the Taipans and he was out to make a statement early. He did that with three triples falling in the opening six minutes and that helped the Snakes to a 23-19 lead with Cam Oliver throwing down the spectacular reverse dunk along the way.

The Snakes then produced their best quarter of the season so far in the second at both ends. They kept Brisbane to just the 21 points while ending up with 32 themselves including a four-point play from Mirko Djeric, and three balls from Oliver, Machado and Kouat Noi.

The result was the 55-40 half-time lead on the back of 18 points and six rebounds from Oliver while shooting 54 per cent from the field and dominating the glass.

Brisbane worked back into the game in the first half of the third period but then Cairns responded with a 7-0 play started by a Jarrod Kenny three and finished with a Nate Jawai flush in transition.

Oliver then hit a triple and Cairns was back up 11 by three quarter-time.

The lead was back to 13 at the start of the fourth and still 10 after a three from Djeric and drive and two-handed slam from Deng.

But Brisbane picked up momentum and even took the lead until Jawai scored for Cairns to level scores again with three minutes on the clock. Noi was then able to bring the Snakes back within a point and then Kenny stepped up for a three ball to tie scores to force overtime.

Kenny hit another triple early in overtime as well to put Cairns up three but Nathan Sobey went on his own 7-0 run. The Taipans were playing catch up from there but twice did Machado hit massive threes to leave scores level.

His second three came with six seconds left and just when a second overtime looked likely, Vic Law got to the rim for the winning basket for Brisbane.

The Snakes now have seven days before playing their next game when they host the same Bullets at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 3

CQUNIVERSITY CAIRNS TAIPANS 103 (Machado 23, Oliver 21, Deng 15)

BRISBANE BULLETS 105 (Sobey 30, Law 29, Cadee 11) 

BOX SCORE