Friday 17th October 2014

Visit from Brett Hogan

Brett is a Referee for the National Basketball League
and had flown to Cairns to officiate in this match

.

UPDATE #01

Brett, along with Vaughn Mayberry,
also visited Cairns during December 2013
and click HERE to go to that albumn

UPDATE #02

Brett and his daughter Maddie
visited Cairns during January 2016
and click HERE to go to that albumn

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans have fired another warning shot after their best away win in franchise history last week, dispatching of Melbourne United 88-73 in front of an expectant crowd in Cairns on Friday night

Superstar centre Cameron Tragardh filled it up with 18 points and six boards, getting ample support from Stephen Weigh with 15 and five

United was a two-man show with McRae’s 20 (7-18 fg) and Mark Worthinton’s 19 (7-9 fg) and six rebounds

The game instantly settled into a half court affair, with both teams playing efficient basketball (nine from 15 field goals assisted and four turnovers) in the first 10 minutes

Cairns’ game plan was evident from the get-go as all plays went through Matt Burston who went right to work on opposite Daniel Kickert at every given opportunity. The plan had worked just four minutes in with a charging foul being Kickert’s second, forcing an early spell

The instant Kickert was whistled, Fearne sent orders down the bench and inserted scoring machine Cameron Tragardh, who replaced the 6’11” enforcer after a successful first stint

Tragardh went right to work, putting the smaller Lucas Walker in a spin cycle; combined with a display of contortionism from Wilbekin on the fast break having the lively crowd up early on a 14-8 advantage. And it caught the attention of United interim coach Darryl McDonald

“It’s funny because we go through the year and we look and we think we’re one of the bigger teams, but you look down at the rest of these teams and I think we might even be the smallest team in the league. We’re going to have to get up and down the floor (more than we are),” McDonald said postgame

“No doubt (they targeted our bigs). Straight away, I think they knew, ‘if we can get (Kickert) out’, then we are really small. It’s something Kick has to get used to. We gotta keep him on the floor. He’s fouled out this game, had four fouls last game... To be honest he’s playing out of size – he’s really a four man but he’s got to play the five in this league”

Melbourne’s jumpshooting, led by the silky Stephen Dennis who was sagged by defenders, kept them at arm’s reach, 21-17 at quarter time

Tragardh kept Burston’s good work going with Kickert’s third foul on a rip-through and-one, while the ensuing airballed free throw momentarily took the sting out of the snakes’ tail, and finally sparked new import Jordan McRae into action. After a scoreless first period, McRae would have 10 in the second

“I thought they played a lot more aggressive in transition tonight, to try and get easier baskets for them which puts you in a position to be a bit more reckless... We try to pack in our D and take away driving lanes and they were trying to get into lanes that weren’t there,” Fearne noted

The response would come by committee for the home side, highlighted by Weigh on the outside and Tragardh on the inside in the extended absence of Kickert. And when Wilbekin split a pick and roll to finished with a feathery floater, the crowd was rampant about a 37-24 lead

After one turnover in the first quarter, Melbourne had their heads down going into halftime with eight in the second term alone. But when they weren’t turning the ball over, the visitors were getting to the rim at will

“I honestly don’t know (what happened in the second quarter)... It’s something we addressed, it’s been a theme in the preseason. I think every one of our preseason games we have lost the second quarter, so it’s something we have to look at. We’re going to go back and look at all the videos of our preseason games and find out why... we’ll fix that,” McDonald said

Going in with a 47-29 halftime lead, these were the kinds of moments Cairns would let the foot off the pedal in recent years, but if Stephen Weigh’s back-to-back first-minute triples were any indication, Cairns fans can look forward to a more resilient team in 2014/15

“The ball just didn’t move enough last year. We’ve got guard play that just moves the ball (this season). I thought Scottie, Shaun Bruce, Maynard, Gliddon, I thought they were fantastic. They came with some pressure up the floor, but we did a good job of passing through it and attacking it,” Fearne said

A McRae-inspired comeback loomed for United, with the volume scorer from Tennessee showing all the tricks to get to the rim and find teammates

But again, it was a Taipan standing up, this time Tragardh. The visitors fought to get the margin down to 17, but three buckets and an assist brought about an 8-0 run to put the game to bed at 70-49 two minutes out from three-quarter time

“Obviously that experience – having seven of the 10 guys back – but I think what hasn’t been touched on; I think the coaches: Fearney, Mick, Jamie, they did a great job in the offseason coaching defence. A big emphasis on the defence and it’s a real built-in team defence and I think in order to score in runs like that it needs to start with your defence... I think that defence is going to be a staple for the rest of the season,” Weigh said

Whatever Melbourne tried – including simple rebounds – ended in tatters, drawing heated reaction and a technical foul from Worthington

A thunderous Torrey Craig slam off a mid-court turnover to open the quarter was all that needed to be said, and despite some hot shooting from Daryl Corletto (nine points in the quarter) both sides failed to string consecutive buckets together for the first seven minutes of the term, broken by an Alex Loughton baseline jumpshot

Postgame, both teams pointed toward their sides’ chemistry developed over the course of preseason as the difference in early-season form

“They (United) definitely are the most talented team in the league. You look at their names, they are extremely talented. When they work it out, they’ll be tough, they’ll be dangerous,” Fearne said

“You have got to have the ability on the floor to huddle and go, ‘hey, they’re doing this, we need to make this read, which is what our group is able to do a little bit now because we have been together a longer period of time. That helps, you got a team like United that have just got all these guys who have just come together, so that’s the difference right there,” he said

“A lot of these teams have kept pretty much the same rosters and just changed imports; we’ve changed over half the roster and that takes a bit of time and trust,” Mark Worthington said

“Once we get into full flight, I think we can be very scary”

Added McDonald: “I want to get the ball in Steve’s (Dennis’) hands, I want to get the ball in Jordan’s (McRae’s) hands and let these guys play and get up and down... We have got to get a little bit fitter, that’s another thing. It’s hard to play at that pace (we want to play at) if you’re not fit. So over these next couple of weeks, I want to get these guys running”

The Orange Army can watch their Taipans' quest for a fourth straight win in Wollongong on Sunday LIVE at the Reef Hotel Casino from 4.00pm

CQUniversity Cairns Taipans 88 (Tragardh 18, Weigh 15, Craig 9)

Melbourne United 73 (McRae 20, Worthington 19, Corletto 12)