Isaac
Years ago
Funny Sixers dominate Taipans, 110-75
The Sixers tonight rode to a 35 point victory over the Cairns Taipans, winning every quarter and almost every statistical category on the way to the 110-75 scoreline.
Dusty Rychart had a 15 point third quarter as he led all scorers with 30 points, grabbing 8 boards to go with it. Willie Farley had 20 points including a monster dunk on Melvin Thomas, and Brett Maher had 19 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists. Jacob Holmes had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Sixers were strong out of the blocks with a 31-23 first quarter - Maher doing the early damage to have 7 early points and the Sixers built a 17-11 lead. Cairns looked to be largely reliant on Marcus Timmons, and Gary Boodnikoff finishing out the quarter with consecutive buckets. Timmons and Boodnikoff finished the quarter with 7 points each while Maher had 9 and Farley 6 for Adelaide.
In the second quarter, it was Sixers' starters Farley, Maher and Holmes who pushed the lead out; Holmes getting a two-handed dunk on the break, and Farley posterising Thomas on the break to make the score 39-23 and force a Taipan timeout.
Towards the end of the first half, the game bogged down with a series of Adelaide misses before Maher had consecutive buckets. At the half-time break it was 60-41 with no Taipans yet in double figures. For Adelaide, Maher and Farley were on 16, Rychart and Holmes 8, Cooper 5, Rees 4, and Forman 3.
Adelaide led in shooting accuracy (60%-46% FG), narrowly gave up the board-advantage 18-20, but were handling the ball far more carefully (7 turnovers to 16).
Rychart came out energised after the long break making a free throw, an inside shot and then another from outside to put together a 6 point individual run and give the Sixers a 21 point lead. A later three-point play gave him 21 points. The most even quarter of the game (24-19) finished with the score 84-60 and two Sixers already with 20 or more points (Rychart 23, Farley 20).
A scrappy start to the fourth quarter included only two Adelaide points in the first three minutes. However, a devastating Paul Rees screen that set Anthony Stewart on the floor and seemingly dazed seemed indicative of the Taipan's night. Playing their third game in only four days, and missing starting centre Chris Burgess cost the Cairns side dearly, as did a significant number of shot clock violations from a combination of lack of awareness and Adelaide defense.
In the latter stages, Sixers coach Phil Smyth cleared his bench to play Nick Hambour and Todd Gower alongside Darren Ng, Oscar Forman and Jason Williams. Hambour scored and the Adelaide crowd were on their feet after a successive blow-out at the Distinctive Homes Dome.
Sixers: Rychart 30, Farley 20, Maher 19, Holmes 11, Cooper, Forman 8, Ng 7, Rees 5, Hambour 2.
Taipans: Crosswell 17, Timmons 15, Boodnikoff 11.
FG%: 50-39
3P%: 38-29
FT%: 79-88
Rebounds: 43-37 (Holmes 10, Rychart 8, Cooper 6)
Fouls: 12-24 (Cooper 5)
Assists: 25-14 (Maher 9, Cooper 4)
Blocks: 3-1 (Forman 2)
Steals: 13-8 (Forman, Rees 3)
First quarter: 31-23
Second quarter: 29-18
Third quarter: 24-19
Fourth quarter: 26-15
110-75
Boxscore
