Basketball New Zealand

Unlikely Cairns star Ian Crosswhite had 18 of his 19 points in the second half and overtime

Jamie Townsend, Sportal
The Cairns Taipans have hung on in a thriller to beat the New Zealand Breakers 101-92 in overtime in their Hummer Championship NBL clash at the Cairns Convention Centre on Wednesday night.

Ian Crosswhite was the unlikely star for the Taipans scoring 19 points, 18 of them in the second half as the home side totally dominated the overtime period 12-3 to grab a vital win that lifts them to second on the NBL ladder.

Cairns entered the match without Stephen Black who has succumbed to an ongoing back injury. His absence opened the door for extended court-time for Scott Cook and Gary Boodnikoff and they both took advantage.

At 16-16, Cook exploded with a big three followed by another field goal to extend the lead to five. When that evaporated Alan Black put Boodnikoff on the court and he hit back to back triples and the Taipans took a 27-21 lead into the first break.

Rick Rickert was the dominant presence inside scoring ten for the visitors in the opening term to lead all scorers while Larry Abney had seven for the Snakes.

In a tight second stanza the visitors turned a seven-point deficit into a one-point lead courtesy of three straight three’s to Tony Ronaldson, Oscar Forman and Kirk Penney.

They looked like they were grabbing the momentum but were never able to get a lead beyond a solitary point in the term and a 10-4 finish to the half gave the Taipans a 50-45 lead at the main break.

The Taipans defensive pressure was tremendous securing seven steals and forcing double the turnovers (10-5) in the first half denying the Breakers any real rhythm.

Penney led all scorers with 18 points at the half while Martin Cattalini and Abney had nine for the hosts.

Cairns started the better in the third quarter with Crosswhite the hot hand scoring the hosts first seven points as their lead hit double figures for the first time 57-46.

The Taipans lead peaked at 13 points when Crosswhite had his 10th point for the term but a late fightback from the Breakers with a 9-1 run saw the lead shrink to five at the final break 73-68.

CJ Bruton opened the fourth with a big three and the Taipans lead had shrunk to two.

Bruton’s second triple three minutes later leveled it up at 76-76 and when Rickert gave them the lead moments later the visitors were on a 21-6 run.

It became a shootout from here as the parochial home crowd roared into life.

Locked at 89-89 with 30 seconds to play the Breakers turned it over with a pass out of bounds.

Amazingly, 15 seconds later the Snakes followed suit and when Bruton missed his attempted winner they headed for overtime.

Crosswhite tipped in to break the deadlock before Forman nailed a big triple to give the visitors the lead again.

But Dave Thomas and Crosswhite again converted as the Breakers threw it away twice, once to the Snakes and once out of bounds and the Taipans lead by three, 95-92.

Amid deafening roars from the 3258-strong attendance, Darnell Mee slipped through for a tough lay-up and the hosts led 97-92.

Another turnover and Thomas added one from the charity stripe and the six-point lead with a minute to play was too much for the visitors to overcome.

A raft of late fouls put the Taipans to the free throw line and the score blew out to the final winning total of 101-92.

Coach Black was rapt with his team’s victory.

“It’s a great win, a terrific win and a really good effort,” he said. “To keep the Breakers to three points in overtime was a great effort.”

His New Zealand contemporary Andrej Lemanis lamented missed opportunities.

“We had a couple of shots to win the game,” he said. “We didn’t do a good job executing in overtime.”

Cairns now sits at 5-2 for the season and will head down to Melbourne for a monster top of the table clash with the Dragons (6-2) on Saturday, while the Breakers (4-2) will play the Blaze on the Gold Coast on the same night.

Cairns Taipans 101 (Ian Crosswhite 19, Dave Thomas 17, Martin Cattalini 17)
New Zealand Breakers 92 (Kirk Penney 23, CJ Bruton 15, Tony Ronaldson 14)
Breakers vs Taipans Box Score (21KB html)