McVeigh, Snakes too strong for Bullets

Jack McVeigh and Reyne Smith combined for nine three-pointers with the Cairns Taipans hitting 20 as their momentum continues to build making it five of the last six with a dominant showing to beat the Brisbane Bullets 107-85.

It was the second meeting between the Queensland rivals so far in NBL27, and the Bullets did start well on Thursday night at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre for an early eight-point lead.

But the Snakes took over from there with 34 points in the second quarter with seven three-pointers before the lead grew to 22 in the third period and they went on to secure the commanding 22-point win.

The win means Cairns have now won five of the last six games to improve to a 6-4 record going 20/48 from beyond the arc along with forcing Brisbane into 25 turnovers from which they scored 19 points.

McVeigh ended up only playing 27 minutes but delivered 23 points and three steals with 5/9 three-point shooting while Smith went 4/9 from the outside for 20 points in his 24 minutes.

Jaylon Brown went 3/8 from deep for 19 points and five assists with Malique Lewis making 3/9 for 16 points with three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Keanu Pinder only played 18 minutes for eight points, four assists, three rebounds and two blocks, and Jaylin Galloway 16 minutes for four points, but the Snakes had plenty of contributors.

That included seven points, 13 rebounds, four steals and two blocks for Jonah Bolden, and Luke Paul having seven points and three assists.

The Bullets are now 4-5 with the loss with Taine Murray top scoring with 20 points on 5/10 three-point shooting.

Nate Hinton also had 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals, Jaylin Williams 12 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks, and Raul Neto eight points and four assists.

The Bullets were back home and started impressively opening up an eight-point lead midway through the opening quarter with Raul Neto running things nicely and making his first three shot attempts.

But the Taipans worked back into the game and forcing Brisbane into seven turnovers in the first quarter helped their cause and by the end of it they were leading 23-21 as a result with seven points each to Jack McVeigh and Reyne Smith.

The Snakes then took further control in the second quarter where they ended up shooting 7/13 from beyond the arc for the 10 minutes on the way to putting up 34 points.

That saw Cairns leading 57-42 by half-time with McVeigh up to 18 points with 4/6 shooting from the outside with Jaylon Brown up to 12 himself.

The Bullets had 14 turnovers to half-time with 10 of those courtesy of Tyrell Harrison, Max Mackinnon and Neto while Taine Murray was their leading scorer with nine points on 2/3 three-point shooting.

The Cairns lead got out to as much as 22 points in the third quarter before Brisbane tried to mount a fightback and did get it back to 13 late in the third term with Lat Mayen throwing down a monster two-handed slam in traffic.

But the Snakes responded with three balls to Kyrin Galloway and McVeigh to remain in control 78-61 by three quarter-time.

The Bullets again did make a brief run in the fourth quarter with both McVeigh and Keanu Pinder off the floor with four fouls, but the Snakes still did enough to come away with the 22-point win on the road.

Both teams back up to play again over the weekend with the Bullets heading to Adelaide to play the 36ers on Sunday while before that, the Snakes host Melbourne United on Saturday night.

BRISBANE BULLETS 85 – CAIRNS TAIPANS 107

Brisbane Bullets
Taine Murray – 20 points, 5/10 3PT
Nate Hinton – 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals
Jaylin Williams – 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals
Raul Neto – 8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds
Archie Woodhill – 7 points, 2 rebounds

Cairns Taipans
Jack McVeigh – 23 points, 3 steals, 5/9 3PT
Reyne Smith – 20 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, 4/9 3PT
Jaylon Brown – 19 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds
Malique Lewis – 16 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
Keanu Pinder – 8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks