NBL
AAP 5y

Adelaide 36ers import Jacob Wiley steers side over Taipans

NBL

An athletic masterclass from import Jacob Wiley has steered the Adelaide 36ers to a comprehensive 109-95 NBL victory over the Cairns Taipans on Friday night.

Wiley threw down a swag of acrobatic dunks in his game-high 30 point haul and he was well supported by Anthony Drmic who had 18 points, including five-of-six three-pointers.

The rejuvenated Sixers are again pushing the top four after chalking up their second straight win.

MVP candidate Melo Trimble (23 points) and fellow American Devon Hall (17) paced the Taipans who were thoroughly outplayed from quarter-time onwards.

Trimble's 11 first-term points guided Cairns to a 29-23 quarter-time but when the star import sat on the bench to start the second, Adelaide took full toll.

Wiley's steal and jam sparked the 36ers into action, the hosts seizing the impetus and leading 54-49 at half-time.

Adelaide coach Joey Wright said his team's turnaround after quarter-time started on the defensive end.

"We got five stops in a row in that second quarter," he said.

"We went out and played a little defence. That gave us the lead and got us going."

Red-hot Drmic nailed three straight triples inside 75 seconds to open an eventful third stanza which had a bit of everything.

It included a spectacular Ramone Moore-to-Nathan Sobey alley-oop, separate unsportsmanlike fouls on Sobey and Trimble, a contentious flopping technical against Taipans forward Kuany Kuany and a reverse over-the-head circus flip shot from Wiley as the Sixers extended their lead to 86-72 heading into the final term.

Cairns coach Mike Kelly also copped a technical foul after voicing his displeasure at the referees early in the fourth as the wheels fell off for the bottom-placed Snakes, who slumped to their eighth successive defeat.

Kelly felt the Taipans were undone by a combination of their own indecisiveness and the 36ers' explosiveness.

"It seemed every time we made a mistake or were being hesitant, they (Sixers) were attacking," he said.

"They did a great job of exploiting us whenever we were on the back foot.

"They're explosive and jumped on a bit of hesitancy early by us."

^ Back to Top ^