Snakes win hot Bendigo thriller over United

The Cairns Taipans showed plenty of heart led by guns Jack McVeigh, Sam Waardenburg and Andrew Andrews in Bendigo and it was former Melbourne United big man Marcus Lee that sunk his old team for the 93-92 win.

Lee was part of Melbourne's Championship Series run last season and with seven seconds on the clock he caught a pass under the rim for Cairns from point guard Andrews.

Only a 56 per cent free-throw shooter on the season, he stuck to his average and hit the first but missed the second to give the Taipans the one-point lead in the Ignite Cup by Disney+ match up at a hot and humid Red Energy Arena in Bendigo.

That still left time for Lee's former Tasmania JackJumpers teammate Milton Doyle to snatch it for Melbourne, but his mid-range jumper wouldn’t go with the Snakes pulling off the gutsy one-point win to inflict more pain on Melbourne.

It also gets the Taipans off bottom spot at 6-17 while for Melbourne, it's seven losses in the last nine games to be 15-9 and only narrowly ahead of the fourth placed Sydney Kings (13-9).

The differences in the game were stark with Melbourne attempting 27 extra shots than Cairns on the back of pulling down 17 offensive rebounds and forcing the Snakes into 16 turnovers.

However, it was a hot shooting performance from the Taipans as they went 62 per cent from the field and 11/21 from three opposed to the 42 per cent and 8/33 from United.

Melbourne's import back court of Milton Doyle (15 points) and Tyson Walker (12 points, four assists) combined to shoot 11/31 from the field and 2/14 from downtown.

Chris Goulding did his best to lift Melbourne with 27 points on 5/11 three-point shooting, but it wasn’t enough against the efficiency from the Taipans.

Andrew Andrews was the most impactful player on the floor with the Taipans point guard keeping his composure for 13 points, 13 assists and three rebounds while playing all but 1:01 of the game.

Jack McVeigh played all 40 minutes for 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists with Sam Waardenburg adding 20 points and nine boards on 7/9 shooting with Kyrin Galloway chiming in with 13 points, two rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

Lee ended up with nine points, two rebounds and two blocks and went 1/5 at the foul line but the one he made was the game winner in the finish.

The Taipans also had import forward Admiral Schofield ejected late in the third quarter after two quick technicals when his frustrations spilled over, but it was all on the back of the energy he brought.

He had pulled down one of his team's three offensive rebounds for the game not long earlier and the Snakes were +11 in the 9:27 he played before taking an early shower.

New father Finn Delany also finished with 14 points, five rebounds and four assists in the loss for Melbourne while Jesse Edwards had 11 points but three turnovers and was hindered by foul trouble the whole game.

The Taipans return home to host the Brisbane Bullets in a Sunshine Stoush on Saturday night while United head to Sydney to play the Kings in a crucial top four match up on Sunday in the last NBL fixture before HoopsFest in Perth.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26 – IGNITE CUP PRESENTED BY DISNEY+

MELBOURNE UNITED 92 (Goulding 27, Doyle 15, Delany 14)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 93 (McVeigh 20, Waardenburg 20, Galloway 13, Andrews 13)

BOX SCORE