Taipans beat Hawks for early 2025 miracle

The Cairns Taipans produced what could be the best performance this NBL season by shaking off 15 straight losses and coming to Wollongong to beat the Illawarra Hawks 108-105 with three match-winning Taran Armstrong free-throws.

Not only had Cairns lost 15 straight, but arrived at the WIN Entertainment Centre minus Sam Waardenburg and were down 11 at half-time before putting up 40 points in the third quarter.

It was then the three free-throws from Armstrong with 0.2 seconds left that secured the win just seconds after Rob Edwards caught a horror pass from Davo Hickey to tie scores up with a three ball.

The Taipans arrived in the 'Gong off a horror home loss on New Year's Eve to a Parker Jackson-Cartwright-less New Zealand Breakers to slump to a 15th consecutive defeat.

It had the potential to be the catalyst of a disastrous finish to NBL25 especially as they arrived to take on a Hawks team sitting on top of the NBL and looking to hit back from their own New Year's Eve loss.

The Taipans scored the first six points of the game to signal their intentions and even though they were trailing by 11 at half-time, they were still in the contest and delivered what might be the best quarter of any team this season in the third.

The Snakes scored the opening 12 points, then finished by scoring 19 of the last 26 to be leading by eight heading into the fourth.

It was still a seven-point lead midway through the fourth but the Hawks then scored the next eight points to regain the lead with five minutes on the clock.

The swings continued and the Hawks did appear to have done enough when up four in the final minute.

Having given up four free-throws and possession to Pedro Bradshaw in the third quarter, Hickey threw a pass from the back court straight to Edwards, who hit the three and then Armstrong won the game at the line for the Snakes.

It's a first win for the Taipans since beating Melbourne on October 6 and after Armstrong and Edwards combined to shoot 6/42 over the past two games, they led the Snakes to the win.

They both scored 28 points combining to go 17/42 from the field and 5/16 from three with Armstrong also having six rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Edwards, four boards, three assists and two steals.

Tanner Groves added 17 points and nine rebounds before fouling out, Alex Higgins-Titsha 14 points, and Pedro Bradshaw 12 points and nine rebounds.

"We stayed with it, we stayed committed," relieved Taipans coach Adam Forde said.

"I'm going to let the boys enjoy this one."

It's back-to-back losses for the now 13-7 Hawks with Tyler Harvey finishing with 23 points, Trey Kell III 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists, Darius Days 15 points and five boards, Lachlan Olbrich 15 points and five rebounds, and Hyunjung Lee 13 points and six boards.

"Lack of communication and paying attention to detail," Hawks coach Justin Tatum said.

"I think we got content. You've got to question the guys if we're going to waste our season.

"Not being able to finish it like we started it, you've got to question our guys with their motives."

The Taipans had their backs to the wall coming into the contest but they started strongly with an unwell Tanner Groves hitting a three and then Rob Edwards completing a three-point play.

The Hawks answered with 11 of the next 13 points including triples to Trey Kell III and Darius Days but the Snakes did well to stay in touch the rest of the quarter with Illawarra only leading 24-19 by quarter-time on the back of a late 6-0 run.

It was a dramatic start to the second quarter with Lachlan Olbrich scoring five quick points to put Illawarra up 10 forcing Adam Forde into a quick timeout.

His Taipans responded immediately with the next 11 points including three-point bombs from Alex Higgins-Titsha, Pedro Bradshaw and Edwards, and suddenly they were in front.

Illawarra answered with another run to end up leading by eight when Kell completed a three-point play as part of eight straight points for the home team.

The Hawks did manage to maintain that edge to be leading 56-45 an the Taipans delivered a stunning start to the second with the opening 12 points including a three to Groves and an and-one from Armstrong before Edwards put them in front.

The Hawks had to dig deep and by the five-minute mark of the quarter they were back up five thanks to three balls from Tyler Harvey and Days.

The Taipans weren’t going anywhere though. They blew the game apart the rest of the quarter outscoring the Hawks 19-7 to close things out and to put up 40 points for the term to go into three quarter-time on top 85-77.

The Taipans were still up seven before eight straight Hawks points. Cairns answered with the next five, then Illawarra scored the next four, and the Hawks were up four after an offensive rebound and putback from Olbrich.

That led to a remarkable final 12 seconds with a free-throw from Armstrong and then the terrible pass from Hickey to give Edwards the look at the game tying three that he made.

Armstrong then forced the turnover on Kell, was fouled by Hyunjung Lee with 0.2 on the clock and won the game for the Snakes.

The Hawks now remain at home for a mouth watering match up on Tuesday night with the Tasmania JackJumpers while the Taipans have nine days until being back to NSW to play the Sydney Kings next Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 105 (Harvey 23, Kell III 22, Days 15, Olbrich 15)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 108 (Armstrong 28, Edwards 28, Groves 17)

BOX SCORE