The Cairns Taipans withstood 30 points from Nate Hinton along with 23 and 18 rebounds from Tyrell Harrison with Jaylon Brown staying hot for 25 as they held out the Brisbane Bullets to win 97-91 at home.

It was the opening Sunshine Stoush battle of NBL27 at the Cairns Convention Centre on Thursday night. Despite 21 points in the first half for the home team from Brown, Brisbane were leading 50-47 at the break thanks largely to the efforts of Hinton and Harrison.

Brisbane then scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to be up four but McVeigh responded with 10 points in the period for the Snakes before he made the two biggest passes of the night.

The first was to find a wide open Jonah Bolden who knocked down the three ball. Then he found Keanu Pinder to roll to the rim with a crafty bounce pass, and from there the Snakes secured the six-point home victory.

Cairns improves to a 3-3 record as a result with back-to-back wins after a horror show in New Zealand last Wednesday night with Brown delivering another 25 points and four assists with 5/11 three-point shooting.

Bolden ended up with 16 points and nine rebounds with 3/5 shooting from the outside with McVeigh having 10 of his 15 points in the fourth period to go with seven assists, four rebounds and four steals.

Malique Lewis also had 15 points and five rebounds, and Pinder 12 points, nine boards and five assists.

The Bullets have now lost three straight after winning their first two under new coach Will Weaver with Hinton producing 30 points on 13/24 shooting from the floor.

Harrison was a powerful force all evening for 23 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks with nine of those boards at the offensive end while Max Mackinnon had five too as part of 13 rebounds with five assists despite just nine points on 3/16 shooting.

Arnas Velička also had another tough sooting night going 3/15 but still had eight points, eight assists, five rebounds and two steals.

The Taipans had the better of the start to the first Sunshine Stoush of NBL27 and Jaylon Brown picked up where he left off in Melbourne on Saturday night with another seven points in the first quarter.

Cairns were leading 23-17 by quarter-time with the Bullets going just 1/11 from beyond the arc including 0/3 from Arnas Velička even though he did have three assists still and Nate Hinton was up to eight points.

Despite another 14 points in the second quarter for Cairns from Brown, Brisbane worked on top in the second quarter by piling on 33 points with 13/21 shooting from the field and 4/7 from the outside.

The Bullets also had eight offensive rebounds to four by half-time to be leading 50-47 with Hinton up to 16 points with Tyrell Harrison dominating with 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

Brown didn’t score or attempt another three-point shot in the third quarter despite going 5/8 in the first half, but the Snakes found other contributors, with 27 points on 9/17 shooting.

That had Malique Lewis up to 15 points by three quarter-time and Jonah Bolden 11 for the home team to be leading narrowly 74-72 despite 23 points for Brisbane from Hinton, and 21 and 12 from Harrison.

The Bullets then came out and scored the opening four points of the final term inside two minutes to force an early timeout from Adam Forde but the visitors then also scored straight when play resumed too to turn that two-point deficit into a four-point lead.

Cairns responded with a couple of huge threes from Jack McVeigh who had just five points through the first 30 minutes.

The biggest shot of the night was Bolden hitting a wide open three inside the last minute to put Cairns back up four and they would go on to win by six.

The Taipans back up again in Round 4 to take on the Illawarra Hawks in Wollongong on Sunday while the Bullets don't play again until hosting the South East Melbourne Phoenix next Thursday night.

CAIRNS TAIPANS 97 – BRISBANE BULLETS 91

Cairns Taipans
Jaylon Brown – 25 points, 4 assists, 5/11 3PT
Jonah Bolden – 16 points, 9 rebounds, 3/5 3PT
Jack McVeigh – 15 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals
Malique Lewis – 15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists
Keanu Pinder – 12 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists

Brisbane Bullets
Nate Hinton – 30 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists
Tyrell Harrison – 23 points, 18 rebounds, 3 blocks
Max Mackinnon – 9 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists
Jaylin Williams – 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists
Arnas Velička – 8 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds

Chris Pike

Snakes hold out Bullets in Cairns