United lose Ili but escape Cairns with win

Melbourne United lost Shea Ili and didn’t have Chris Goulding for the last 14 minutes without head coach Dean Vickerman, but escaped with a crucial 89-85 road win against the Cairns Taipans.

A loss at the Cairns Convention Centre for United on Thursday could well have condemned them to a fifth-place finish and facing a Play-In Game first up with the Snakes determined to make the most of their final home game of NBL26.

United also made the trip to Far North Queensland minus coach Vickerman who was suffering from appendicitis, and then they also lost Ili to another injury before half-time after he had eight points in 6:53 of court time.

Goulding then wasn’t put back in the game by stand-in coach Rhys Carter for almost the last four minutes of the third quarter and the entire fourth as he battled a sore knee.

Jesse Edwards also fouled out with almost two minutes to play and it was Cairns leading most of the night, but Melbourne dug deep with 33 points to 25 in the fourth quarter to secure the crucial three-point win.

The victory improves Melbourne to a 19-12 record to stay in touch of the fourth placed Perth Wildcats (19-11) as they can return home with a big sigh of relief.

The Taipans fought valiantly in their last home game of the season and they did lead for more than 24 minutes of the game including by as much as 10 points including 46-40 at half-time.

However, the Snakes just couldn’t quite execute when it mattered most down the stretch with a couple of crucial Andrew Andrews turnovers as part of his seven for the game.

Opposed to that, Tyson Walker hit a massive three late as part of his individual 6-0 run for United without Ili and Goulding out there as he helped deliver Melbourne's crucial win with the help of Milton Doyle.

Doyle ended up with 25 points and three rebounds including 4/9 from three-point range while Walker delivered 17 points, three steals and two assists.

They were the only two double-figure scorers with Tanner Krebs ending up with nine points, three rebounds and two assists, Edwards nine points and 13 boards, and Finn Delany seven points, five rebounds and four assists.

Meanwhile for Cairns, Jack McVeigh finished with another 25 points, eight rebounds and four assists but he also had five turnovers and had to work hard for everything with 7/17 field goal shooting, 1/8 from downtown and then 10/11 at the free-throw line.

Mojave King scored another 13 points with four rebounds and two blocks with Reyne Smith going 3/9 from three-point range in second game back from a foot injury for 11 points, three boards and three steals in over 23 minutes.

Lachlan Barker and Marcus Lee both scored 10 points with Andrews ending up with nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

The Taipans have just the one game left in their season now next Thursday on the road to the New Zealand Breakers while Melbourne have two games to go both at John Cain Arena against the Illawarra Hawks on Sunday and in a Throwdown with the South East Melbourne Phoenix next Thursday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26 – ROUND 21

CAIRNS TAIPANS 85 (McVeigh 25, King 13, Smith 11)

MELBOURNE UNITED 89 (Doyle 25, Walker 17, Edwards 9, Krebs 9)

BOX SCORE