McCall Fires Taipans to Season-Ending Win over Bullets

The Cairns Taipans have finished their season on a positive note on their home floor with Tahjere McCall, Keanu Pinder and Majok Deng all having fun in the 112-98 Saturday night win over the Brisbane Bullets.

The Snakes had an enjoyable night to close out a challenging season by rewarding their loyal home fans by scoring the highest score of any team this season and with McCall leading the way with the highest individual score this season with 42 points.

He also became the first player ever from the Taipans to score 40 points and 10 assists in a game, finishing the night full of the flair that has made him so popular this season. He ended up with 42 points, 10 assists, six rebounds and five steals on 17/26 shooting.

It was a rough way for the Bullets to end the #NBL22 season with only seven players able to hit the floor with Isaiah Moss, Nathan Sobey, Lamar Patterson, Ty Harrison, Tamuri Wigness, Tom Digbeu and Jack Salt all unavailable.

While the Taipans took full advantage they had to come from being 11 points down early in the second quarter when Taane Samuel also had 12 points in a career-best night for the Bullets.

However, from that point the Snakes dominated to outscore the Bullets 88 points to 63 the rest of the way to end a frustrating season on a high note at the Cairns Convention Centre to snap a five-game losing streak for a ninth victory.

While the Bullets were shorthanded, at no point did Cairns have a full squad available this season and again on Saturday night they were missing point guard Scott Machado and centre Stephen Zimmerman.

However, the Snakes had some fun in front of their home fans to close the season and it was McCall leading the charge but he had plenty of help.

Deng put up 30 points and seven rebounds including hitting 6/11 from downtown. Pinder also capped his outstanding season with 17 points and eight boards with Ben Ayre adding a nice nine points and seven assists to keep things flowing.

Taipans coach Adam Forde was delighted his team rewarded their home fans more than anything.

"I hope it means everything to the crowd and this is where I appreciated the boys for playing that style and rewarding one of the best fan bases in the country," Forde said.

"This is a fan base who stays to the very end no matter what and I was just appreciative that even now they are still out on the court with the signing session so I'm appreciative of their support all season. 

"I was glad that the boys were able to put on the performance that they did to finish off our season for them."

Robert Franks had a huge second half for Brisbane to finish with 30 points and 15 rebounds with Tanner Krebs adding 20 points, Taane Samuel 14 points and four rebounds, Deng Deng 12 points and eight boards, and Anthony Drmic 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

Bullets coach James Duncan was proud of the seven players who did suit up to play.

"Credit to the guys for continuing to battle throughout the course of the game," Duncan said.

"We were down on numbers and obviously our guys got tired throughout the course of the game, and it was just one of those things that we had to deal with guys being sick or being injured or deciding not to play. But that's how it is in professional sports."

It took almost two minutes for either team to score but it was Jason Cadee who broke the deadlock with a triple. Majok Deng responded in kind and turned it into a four-point play for Cairns.

Both teams warmed to the task from there with Deng Deng and Anthony hitting triples for Brisbane with Taane Samuel enjoying his chance with seven points to see Brisbane lead 25-20 despite the 10 points for the Snakes from Tahjere McCall.

The Bullets then started the second quarter on fire including three balls to Robert Franks and Samuel as their lead grew to 11.

The Snakes had to respond and they did with McCall and Deng doing a lot of the heavy lifting. At one point they had 33 of the team's 40 points and eventually the Taipans took the lead with Keanu Pinder joining in the fun.

By half-time it was Cairns leading 49-43 with McCall, Deng and Pinder combining for 46 points and 17 rebounds with the rest of the team contributing three points and three boards.

The Taipans kept that momentum going to start the second half with the opening four points. Bul Kuol then drained a three and McCall threw down a dunk and suddenly the home team was leading by 13.

While Tanner Krebs answered with five quick points for Brisbane, Cairns were on a roll and not about to let it slip on their home floor. McCall added another nine points as he revved up the Orange Army.

Three balls to Kuol and Deng also helped the Snakes to the 20-point three quarter-time advantage.

The Taipans' lead did balloon out to 28 points during the fourth quarter, but to the Bullets' credit they fought the game right out to bring the final margin back to just 14.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 21

CAIRNS TAIPANS 112 (McCall 42, Deng 30, Pinder 17)

BRISBANE BULLETS 98 (Franks 30, Krebs 20, Samuel 14) 

BOX SCORE