Hot-shooting Taipans tame Hawks in NBL

Steve Barrett | October 11, 2026

A spectacular shooting exhibition from Jack McVeigh has rocketed Cairns to fourth spot on the NBL ladder with a 110-100 victory over last-placed Illawarra.

McVeigh’s 32-point haul at Wollongong’s WIN Entertainment Centre on Sunday came on a scorching 12-of-17 clip, including 5-of-9 from three-point territory.

Jonah Bolden posted 20 points and eight boards, while Keanu Pinder paired 19 points with six assists as the Taipans won their third straight.

Bigs Makur Maker (18 points, nine rebounds) and Sam Froling (16, 12) stood tall for the Hawks, who won the rebounding count 42-29 but couldn’t stop Cairns’ perimeter shooters.

“We wanted to keep pushing the pace,” Taipans coach Adam Forde said.

“We’re still a long way from where we want to be, but the signs are there.”

After McVeigh’s 13-point first-quarter haul carried Cairns to a 28-18 cushion, Illawarra – piloted by reserves Kyle Adnam and Maker – scored the last nine points of the term to slash the margin to 28-27.

The second quarter followed a similar path.

The Taipans’ 17-year-old Next Star Luke Paul’s athletic breakaway dunk was a highlight, before import Jaylon Brown’s steal and pull-up three blew the visitors’ advantage out to 54-47.

But the Hawks rallied, led again by their bench, with Maker, Will Hickey, Dan Grida and Lamar Patterson coming in and finishing the half with a 9-0 rush to scale Cairns’ lead back to 57-50.

Illawarra stuck with their back-ups to launch the second half and they closed the gap to five points, but with Pinder picking holes in the home team’s defence, the Taipans were able to hold sway 86-77 at the end of a bruise-free third period.

Pinder picked up his fourth foul early in the fourth

The Hawks’ rebounding was strong and they upped their defensive intensity to trim the margin to four points, before big treys from McVeigh, Bolden and Malique Lewis staved off Illawarra’s gritty fightback.

“It’s unfortunate we couldn’t sustain it for 40 minutes,” Hawks coach Justin Tatum said.

“We just want to get a win.

“But allowing 105-plus points a game, it’s going to be pretty difficult to get that.”