Taipans win on Armstrong triple-double

It's been tough going at home in NBL25 for the Cairns Taipans but they rewarded the Orange Army with Taran Armstrong delivering the season's lone triple-double in the 100-88 win over the Brisbane Bullets.

Armstrong finished with 28 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the first NBL triple-double since Trey Kell III did it for the Adelaide 36ers on New Year's Eve to close 2023 back in the 2023/24 season.

The Taipans fed off that to score just their fourth win at home of the season to send the 4145 fans at the Cairns Convention Centre home happy.

Taipans coach Adam Forde is adamant Armstrong is destined for bigger stages.

"This is just an example of what he's capable of doing and the evolution of his game from last year to this year," Forde said post-game.

"Imagine what that's going to look like five years from now, wherever he is in the world, just capitalising on his talent that he's had to work really hard for."

The Bullets were playing their last game of the season and still missing Tyrell Harrison, Josh Bannan, Deng Adel, Rocco Zikarsky and Emmett Naar, but last up scored a stirring win in Adelaide.

The Taipans were playing their last home game but had won three of their past five games despite now being without the released Rob Edwards.

Tanner Groves hit three early triples and Cairns opened up a 12-point lead in the first term, but the Taipans big man battled foul trouble the rest of the half and it Brisbane's injury replacement, Callum Dalton, fired up before half-time.

He scored a career-high 10 points to close out the first half with scores level at 48-48 by the break with Cairns shooting 53 per cent to 41 from Brisbane, but the Bullets attempted an extra nine shots thanks to nine offensive rebounds.

It was still just a two-point Cairns lead by the end of three but the Taipans went on an 11-0 scoring run to open up an 11-point lead early in the fourth on the way to the 12-point win to improve to 8-20.

Armstrong completed the triple-double grabbing a defensive rebound in the dying seconds with Sam Waardenburg also having 23 points and seven rebounds, Groves 15 points on 3/4 shooting from deep, and Pedro Bradshaw 14 points, four rebounds and four assists.

"The guys were taking care of me a little bit late, letting me know I was close," Armstrong said.

"It's something for the fans. We've had a tough season and they continue to show up time after time.

"To give them a little bit of excitement this late in the year means a lot."

The Bullets finish a season ravaged by injury with a 12-17 record where again you couldn’t fault their fighting qualities given they were missing almost half their fully rostered team.

Keandre Cook finished his first NBL season with 28 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals on 5/8 three-point shooting with Casey Prather adding 19 points and five rebounds, and Dalton a career-high 10 points and five boards.

"From the start of the year it's been a challenge with different things we've had to deal with but there's been no drop of our heads and no lack of doing the work," Bullets coach Justin Schueller said.

"Sometimes years like this are right before when it really becomes what you're building to and I know we've got something special building right now."

The game opened up with the bigs stepping out for three-pointers and Tanner Groves hit two to open proceedings for the Taipans before Tohi Smith-Milner answered up the other end for the Bullets.

Groves soon knocked down his third triple of the opening minutes to give the Snakes the early 14-7 lead. The home team ended up leading 26-14 on the back of buckets to Sam Waardenburg and Groves, and then an and-one play from Taran Armstrong.

The Bullets did finish the quarter strongly, though, starting with a triple from Keandre Cook before he scored on the buzzer to have 13 in the opening term to cut the Cairns lead back to 32-26 by the end of one.

Brisbane then kept that momentum going to start the second frame and three-pointers to Smith-Milner and Isaac White had them back within a point.

The Taipans again pulled away with the next six points but then it was Callum Dalton who sparked Brisbane. He scored his team's last 10 points of the half including an alley-oop dunk set up by Cook.

He had never scored more than four points in an NBL game before, but he was instrumental in the Bullets going into half-time tied up at 48-48 with the Taipans.

It was the Armstrong-Sam Waardenburg show from the Taipans in the first part of the third quarter as they helped keep the home team in front, but up the other end Casey Prather had nine points for the Bullets.

By three quarter-time, the Taipans were leading 73-71 thanks to Kyrin Galloway scoring on a second chance play but Cairns weren’t going to be denied with Armstrong continuing to take control of the contest chasing that triple-double.

He was instrumental in the Snakes going on an 11-0 scoring run and while the Bullets fought back with three balls from Cook and Smith-Milner, the home team got the job done and to top it off Armstrong completed the triple-double.

It's the end of the season for the Bullets while the Taipans finish off on Saturday up against the defending champion Tasmania JackJumpers at MyState Bank Arena.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

CAIRNS TAIPANS 100 (Armstrong 28, Waardenburg 23, Groves 15)

BRISBANE BULLETS 88 (Cook 28, Prather 19, Dalton 10)

BOX SCORE