Musashi Match Report: Late Taipans Flurry Upsets Phoenix

Despite missing a couple more bodies and falling down 16 against a South East Melbourne Phoenix team locked into third spot, the Cairns Taipans snapped their eight-game losing streak in remarkable style with a dominant finish at home on Friday night.

The Taipans were without Mojave King who put up a career-best 25 points in a loss at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena to the Brisbane Bullets on Wednesday night. 

That was supposed to be the last home game for the season for the Snakes, but Victoria's COVID-19 lockdown saw the Phoenix head to the Tropical Far North and for much of the night they appeared to have the number of the Taipans on the back of their hot three-point shooting.

Already on a four-game winning streak and in third position, the Phoenix led by as much as 16 points and were still up 81-69 with seven minutes to go in the game, and really there was nothing to suggest what was to come.

With King joining Cam Oliver, Kouat Noi and Fabijan Krslovic as players done for the season for the Taipans, they rose in remarkable fashion in front of their home fans to close the game on the most incredible run of scoring 24 of 28 points.

Cairns would go on to record the stunning 94-87 win to snap their losing streak and it was on the back of four monstrous three-pointers down the stretch in a three-minute burst from Mirko Djeric.

It could end up a loss to haunt the Phoenix too who now slip to an 18-15 record on the season to only be percentage ahead in third spot of the Illawarra Hawks who won earlier in the night in New Zealand.

With Mojave King joining Kouat Noi, Cam Oliver and Fabijan Krslovic missing for the Taipans, Jordan Ngatai stared strongly with a pair of three balls but Yanni Wetzell hit seven quick points himself to help the Phoenix to an early 12-8 edge.

But a four-point play from Ngatai saw him have 10 points early for the Snakes and then when Scott Machado got his first score of the game followed by a Majok Deng three-pointer and Tad Dufelmeier basket, the Taipans were up 21-14.

South East Melbourne did hit back, though, with triples to Keifer Sykes and Ryan Broekhoff to be within a point at quarter-time.

Wetzell and Ben Moore then helped the Phoenix take the lead to start the second term but this was a determined Taipans outfit knowing this would officially be their last game in front of their home fans.

A three ball to Deng and another basket to Dufelmeier had them back up by six but South East Melbourne responded with a 12-2 to hold a 47-44 advantage heading into half-time.

The Phoenix just shot the lights out from beyond the arc in the opening six minutes of the second half. Cam Gliddon hit a pair of threes with Kyle Adnam, Mitch Creek and Keifer Sykes also connecting as the lead blew out to 67-53.

The Taipans weren’t going to go down without a fight, though, and late triples from Jarrod Kenny and Dufelmeier brought them within 10 again by quarter-time.

The Phoenix were still up 12 with seven minutes left but the game took a remarkable turn from that point. It started with a couple of Deng baskets but it was Mirko Djeric who turned match-winner.

Showing the shooting confidence few possess, he drained four huge three-pointers in the space of three minutes to turn an eight-point deficit before he hit his first into a four-point lead when he connected on his fourth.

Cairns completed a run of scoring 23-4 in remarkable fashion to claim the seven-point win and send their home fans away happy for the last time this season.

Cairns will now head to Sydney to take on Melbourne United on Monday while South East Melbourne takes on the Brisbane Bullets on Wednesday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 20

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 87 (Wetzell 25, Creek 13, Sykes 12)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 94 (Deng 22, Djeric 16, Ngatai 14, Dufelmeier 14) 

Written by NBL.com.au (28/05/2021)