Marlins shoot for top four

CAIRNS forward Jimmy Mitchell says the Marlins have a renewed confidence that they can beat any team on their day following Saturday’s win over the Sunshine Coast Phoenix.

While the Phoenix have endured an up and down NBL1 North campaign so far, they lay claim as the only team that has defeated ladder leaders Logan Thunder this season.

Mitchell (above) said the victory was an important one as the Marlins, who currently sit in sixth position, set their sights on the top four.

“We consider ourselves as being up there and we’ve been talking about just getting into the top four and then going from there,” he said.

“It’s not like we’ve got any arrogance or we’re expecting things to happen – we know we’re all kind of new together and we know we’re still figuring things out – but we consider ourselves to be one of the best teams on paper, but on paper doesn’t get it done, so we’ve got to make sure we’re working hard to figure those things out and get some momentum going.”

Taipans-contracted players Majok Deng (34 points, eight rebounds) and Mirko Djeric (25 points, six rebounds, six assists) were on fire in the win against the Phoenix.

Mitchell said it was good to return to their winning ways after back-to-back losses.

“It felt like we hadn’t won for ages even though it was only a two-game losing streak because we lost to Townsville, we lost to Rip City, and before that we had the lockdown in Brisbane where we didn’t get to play,” he said.

In the women’s clash, the Dolphins were defeated 85-62.

The Cairns teams take on Brisbane Capitals this Friday night at the Fish Tank, before meeting their Townsville counterparts on Sunday.