Snakes and fans along for the ride
Taipans’ wild rollercoaster rattles on with a solid win and sinking loss
THE Taipans’ inconsistent rollercoaster season dropped into another valley yesterday afternoon, beaten by Brisbane, just days after a big win against a star-studded Melbourne United.
It is only 10 games into the 2017-18 campaign but the Cairns rollercoaster has reached several high peaks – big home wins over Melbourne and Perth as well as a victory in New Zealand. But yesterday’s loss to the battling Bullets was another low.
Just days after limiting Chris Goulding and his United teammates to 69 points, the Snakes could only manage 24 points in the first half to a side that was beaten by 31-points in their last home game.
The second half was much better from Cairns but Brisbane did enough to secure their second Sunshine Stoush victory of the season, 82-74, to drop the Snakes’ season record to 4-6.
After a quiet first three quarters, former Snake Travis Trice turned it on in the final term, sinking key free throws and feeding Tom Jervis several easy buckets.
Guard Mitch McCarron put the Snakes in front with 1:38 minutes to go in the game before the reigning Cairns MVP came back to haunt his old club.
Trice was the Bullets’ leading man down the stretch, hitting two massive jumpers with fewer than 90 seconds remaining as well as the game-sealing free throws with 15 seconds to go.
Trice led all scorers with 17 and dished out eight valuable assists in the Bullets’ bounceback victory after they were belted by Illawarra last start at home.
The Snakes, without injured star Michael Carrera, 24 points over the first two quarters was the lowest first half score of any NBL club this season.
They found their rhythm in the third term, scoring more in that quarter than the entire first half, and took the lead on the back of three triples from back up point guard Jarrad Weeks.
Skipper Cameron Gliddon started the final term on fire as the drilled three straight jumpers and topscored with 15.
Brisbane jump to sixth place on the NBL ladder, sending the Taipans back to seventh spot.
Turnovers and poor shooting plagued both teams througout a dour first half with few highlights to speak of for Brisbane’s home crowd.
The Snakes now host the suddenly in-form Illawarra Hawks on Saturday night at home.