Taipans beat Kings in overtime

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The Cairns Taipans had a welcome at home win on Monday, beating the Sydney Kings 94-88.

Keanu Pinder put in a match-winning performance for the home side, with 30 points, 13 rebounds and two assists.

The result ends a 17-game on the road winning streak for the Kings that began last season.

Neither side shot well, but scores remained close in the first half, with Sydney in front by a point at quarter time, and they were tied 44-44 at half time.

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The Kings seemed set to run away with the game in the final quarter, until their forward, Xavier Cooks, fouled out with three minutes left on the clock.

The Taipans took advantage, with DJ Hogg hitting two three pointers, and with scores level, the game went into overtime.

It was all Taipans then, with Pinder, Bul Kuol, and Tahjere McCall combining to secure the win.

Cairns shot just 36 per cent from the field, but they did push the Kings into 21 turnovers from which they scored 13 points.

Taipans coach, Adam Forde, said it was not his team’s best performance.

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“We get a bit of momentum, which was good, but then sort of went away from it again, and then went to our default of trying to shoot ourselves out of it.

“I wouldn’t put it down to poor shot selection because I'm real particular about what our shot selection is.

“But what else can we go to when it's not dropping?

“There was a point where we looked dead and buried down 14, and I did a standing timeout but not to yell or to cuss.

“It was simply to ask what we want to do right now and if we want to grind this out through one possession at a time, or just go out and take turns.

“I felt real confident going into overtime and I felt momentum was in our favour.

“What's great about this team is that we're able to generate turnovers, that's what the team's designed to do.

“The boys responded, and this is the group we recruited for. I'm very happy."

The Taipans play the 36ers in Adelaide on Friday December 2.