Melbourne United roar home against Cairns

Melbourne United turned up the defensive heat in the fourth quarter of their Easter Sunday match-up against the Cairns Taipans to run away with a fifth consecutive win.

Playing Cairns for the second time in three days, Melbourne claimed a road win to make it a 2-0 weekend against the Taipans.

The first quarter was up-tempo to begin with as the sharpshooters came to play. Chris Goulding drained an early triple, while Jordan Ngatai was on fire with three triples in the opening four and a half minutes to give Cairns an early 13-7 lead.

From there, Scotty Hopson came into his own with three buckets, while Goulding connected on another long-range shot and Mitch McCarron found himself involved heavily with great assists.

Melbourne hit the lead when Sam McDaniel drained a three-pointer with 45 seconds remaining in the term and at the first break, United held a two-point lead, 24-22.

Jock Landale and McCarron powered United to a 7-0 run to begin the second quarter, but Scott Machado answered on the other end and when Mirko Djeric hit his first triple of the evening with 4:30 left in the half, the Taipans were just four points adrift, 34-30.

McCarron kept driving United’s offence forward while David Barlow drained a three to see Melbourne’s lead balloon out to nine points, 41-32, with a couple of minutes left in the term.

Cairns responded once again, highlighted by an insane catch-and-shoot three-pointer from Djeric, and at the main break United held a three-point advantage, 43-40.

Goulding (11 points) and Hopson (7 points and 3 rebounds) led the way for Melbourne, while Machado (17 points and 3 assists) was keeping Cairns in the fight in the first half.

Landale and Goulding connected beautifully for United’s first points of the second half, but Ngatai answered once again from long range to even the scores.

Over the next two minutes, United wrestled back momentum – led by Landale – as they went on a 9-0 run. An impressive spin move by Mason Peatling kept United’s buffer at eight points with just under four minutes remaining in the quarter, but Djeric responded with a four-point play and when Mojave King scored in the paint, Cairns had gone on an 8-0 run to even the scores at 60 with one minute left on the clock.

With a quarter to play, United held a two-point lead, 62-60.

After leaving the game during third quarter with an ankle injury, Goulding returned to start the fourth quarter in a welcome sight for United fans.

A big Hopson dunk got United’s scoring underway in the fourth term and then a dominant eight-point scoring run by McCarron completely changed the complexion of the game. McCarron took the game away from Cairns with his relentless attack.

Whilst McCarron was dominating on the offensive end, United’s defence was also in fine form, holding the Taipans to just five points in the first seven minutes of the last quarter.

A Ngatai triple broke the drought for Cairns, but when McCarron drove to the basket and then drained a pair of free throws after being fouled, Melbourne’s lead was 10 points with one minute on the clock.

Hopson provided more highlights in the final minute with an and-1 play and dunk as United ran out 10-point winners, 83-73.

McCarron (14 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists) and Landale (13 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists) both stuffed the stat-sheet with monster performances, while Hopson (14 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists) and Goulding (15 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists) were vital.

Machado (20 points, 7 assists and 3 rebounds) and Cam Oliver (14 points and 10 rebounds) led the way for Cairns.

The win sees Melbourne improve to 15-5 on the season to sit second on the ladder. 

Next up for United is a Saturday night game against the New Zealand Breakers at John Cain Arena. Tip off is at 8pm. Followed by a Monday night, 7.30pm game against the Brisbane Bullets. Purchase tickets for both games here.