BOXSCORE

The Melbourne Tigers have played Scrooge to a Jamar Wilson-less Cairns Taipans with a much-needed 67-65 win at The Cage on Friday night.

Abysmal scoring in the fourth quarter made it anyone’s game. But because the Taipans allowed 10 seconds to tick from the clock without fouling – after getting within one point – they simply ran out of time.

Alex Loughton (6 points, 2/14 from the field) tried to draw a foul on a final-hope three-point attempt, but it came up short and the Tigers got their second consecutive win.

Brad Hill (14 points, 12 rebounds) and Ian Crosswhite (11 points, 10 rebounds) showed positive signs for the away team.

Cairns coach Aaron Fearne was nonplussed about whether the game would make a big impact on their finals chances, citing injuries as a major hurdle in the first 12 rounds.

“If you asked me at the start of the year if we’d want to be around five hundred with Alex and Ian missing, Jamar missing tonight and Dusty out the last eight games, I’d be over the moon,” he said.

“I’m pretty excited about where I think we can go. We obviously defend extremely well, but we’ve got to make the game ugly, that’s just what we have to do.”

The league’s leading scorer Cameron Tragardh (14 points, 5 rebounds) agreed with this sentiment.

“Ninety-three points against probably a better Townsville side and then to burp up 67 against Cairns … maybe we underestimated them a little without Wilson,” he said.

“It’s tough playing against them, though. They bait you into shooting half-open shots – I know I took a couple tonight. It’s like taking the first girl at the night club home.”

Both teams looked to be pacing early, struggling to execute their own variations of the heralded Shuffle offence.

The Taipans adjusted first by using the popular tactic of going at the Tigers’ bigs and forcing Tragardh to play at both ends.

Missing the star power of Wilson dearly, the Taipans lacked a floor general with Deba George’s erratic play helping the Tigers score the final five points of the first quarter to square it 19-19.

Hill, who pulled down an impressive 11 rebounds in the second half, didn’t downplay the importance of Wilson’s foot injury.

“Obviously when someone like him goes down, everyone else needs to step up. There were words said before the game, guys getting on each other, which is only natural for a guy as good as him,” he said.

The home team found their groove in the second with Daniel Dillon (9 points, 5 assists) freelancing to provide for his teammates, Ron Dorsey (9 points, 5 rebounds) shooting himself into the game and the Tigers’ fighting each other for offensive rebounds.

A series of Tigers’ defensive miscues kept the Taipans on their tails, but Melbourne scored the final couple buckets for a 43-36 half-time cushion.

Andrew Warren (20 points) did his best to come into the Tigers’ home and steal their Christmas cookies with an inspired 15-point third quarter. His individual tally made Cairns’ 12-point final term all the more regrettable.

Melbourne Tigers (Tragardh 14, Ubaka 11, Dorsey 9, Dillon 9)
Cairns Taipans (Warren 20, Hill 14, Crosswhite 11)

Crowd: 3217 at State Netball and Hockey Centre, Melbourne