Taipans break streak in thriller

Making the flight into New South Wales, the Taipans travelled without Sam Waardenburg who remained in Cairns due to illness – missing the game alongside AK Gak – with Tanner Groves also entering the fixture as a game day decision after showing similar symptoms.

The Taipans put up the first six points of the night – first through a Groves triple, then a Rob Edwards and-one – before the Hawks dropped their fifth attempt of the night to open their account.

With Illawarra once more finding themselves in a drought with only two points on the scoreboard halfway through quarter, the hosts made a series of quick substitutions who pulled the margin straight back.

Draining three consecutive triples, the Hawks grabbed a narrow lead whilst the Taipans looked to trade blow for blow to trail by what was looking like a three-point margin at the first break.

However, taking advantage of Cairns’ only two turnovers of the quarter – both coming in the final minute – the Hawks stretched the margin out to five points.

Returning to action by capitalising on more turnovers, Illawarra continued to stretch the margin out to double digits – forcing their visitors to burn an early timeout.

Answering their coaches call, the Taipans shot back with Alex Higgins-Titsha, Pedro Bradshaw and Edwards all hitting a shot from deep to build an 11-0 run – returning the lead to Cairns.

Out here droppin’ DIMES 👀

Armstrong throws it behind the back for the Edwards triple!

📲 @cairnstaipans | 📺 @espn pic.twitter.com/Jja2IzK7x9

— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) January 3, 2025

Snatching the lead straight back, Illawarra were firing on all cylinders, with Trey Kell III struggling to miss as they took control of the game.

Leaning firmly on Higgins-Titsha who finished off his half with 10 points and a block, the Taipans were looking at small margin to overcome after the break, however a late barrage by the Hawk’s imports stretched the margin out to 11 points at halftime.

Taking to the court once more by looking for efficient looks at the rim in the third, Cairns mounted another run to bring them back into the game. With the starting unit back in action, the Taipans raced onto an 12-0 run.

Earning the reward of pushing Illawarra into the bonus within four minutes through their attacks at the rim, Cairns were able to get themselves to the stripe to keep in touch with the Hawks, as Higgins-Titsha once more provided a spark off the bench.

Hitting 14 free throws in the third quarter alone, the Taipans flew past the Hawks to grab an eight-point lead as they entered the final quarter – outscoring Illawarra 21-40 in the third term. Their 40-point effort was the best in franchise history, in the 40-minute era. 

Refusing to bow down on their home court, the Hawks mounted their own run by copying Cairns’ third quarter tactics – attacking the rim and drawing fouls – a strategy that they also reaped the rewards of.

Snatching the lead back – the first of five lead changes across the final term – the Hawks looked to capitalise on a reduced Taipans lineup with both Groves and Higgins-Titsha fouling out.

Building the lead up to four points – brought down to three by Taran Armstrong at the free throw line – Illawarra looked for an outlet pass to seal the game which fell in the hands of Rob Edwards, who didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

LET IT FLY ROB 💸

EDWARDS TIES THE BALL GAME!

📲 @cairnstaipans | 📺 @espn pic.twitter.com/ZxWG9QbKLm

— Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) January 3, 2025

Tying the game up, the Hawks looked to steal the win with seconds left on the clock, however the inbounding pass fell into the hands of Armstrong, with the guard fouled as the final buzzer sounded.

Sent to the free throw line with a chorus of boo’s reigning down on him, the Taipan drained the shots to hand his team the win.

Both putting up 28 points with three assists and two steals, the two Cairns starting guards led their efforts on the offensive end, with Taran Armstrong also ending his night with six boards, and Rob Edwards finishing his with four rebounds. Combining to draw 13 fouls between them, the two guards also shot 17 of 19 from the stripe – including the game winning points.

Falling one rebound short of a double-double in only 24 minutes of action, Tanner Groves put up 17 points at 66%, with nine boards, three dimes and a steal also to his name.

Backing up the center, Pedro Bradshaw and Alex Higgins-Titsha also made major contributions to the scoring total – putting up 12 and 14 points respectively. Pulling down nine rebounds and two steals, the American also ended his night with zero turnovers and a plus/minus of +22.

“I want the boys to enjoy this – it’s been two months since we’ve had this feeling, and we’ve gone through a lot,” Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde said.

“This is what I love about the group, they didn’t quit on it, and they stayed resilient. We had a bunch of good looks in that final five minutes which I felt could’ve dropped in our favour which didn’t, but they didn’t get rattled this time and they stayed with it, and they stayed committed.”

“I think that even though we’ve lost 15 games in a row, a lot of the games we’ve been in it, and we’ve gotten to the fourth quarter, and we’ve kind of dropped the fourth quarter, so the result looks worse than the story of the whole game, and I think that’s why this was such a great win for us,” explained Taipans forward Kyrin Galloway.

“Like Coach said, everybody has kept the same mentality that we had at the start of the season – we all think that we’re a great team, and we’ve been working really hard and to just see the results tonight means a lot.”

The Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans will now have a week to prepare for their next fixture – another road trip to New South Wales, this time to face the Sydney Kings. They’ll then return home to host the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Tuesday 14 January at 6:30pm – tickets available HERE!