Casper Ware, the tired hero, Melbourne beats Cairns

That paid off: he won 13 of his 34 points while it was essential to help Melbourne get a 87-80 win over 7897 supporters.

Do not let the dashboard fool you, the result remained in the balance until the last minute. Ware's acrobatic training put Melbourne ahead, before his team found excellent defensive support, forcing the Taipans to throw the ball back into the net, while DJ Kennedy stole it before the match. shoot two free throws to extend the score. drive.

Some plays seemed dramatic as some replays seemed to show that Chris Goulding of Melbourne was putting his foot in the hindquarters while defending the pbad for Devon Hall, although the Taipans did not run their pbad either. game as shown.

Cairns goalkeeper Dexter Kernich-Drew missed his next basketball attempt while 22 seconds remained. Kennedy was on the field again, grabbing the ball and avoiding the opposing defense to travel to the other side of the country and finish the victory with a dunk.

Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman said he would win as much as possible because of his team's tough schedule.

"At the moment, when we have not trained and we do not have representatives, you feel like an NBA team because you just have to let the talent go," Vickerman said.

"Casper, when we were struggling, we put him in his hands – and as tired as he was seeing from time to time, he always had the speed to get to the rim, he was remarkable."

Ware was clearly delighted with his individual duel with the Cairns importer, Melo Trimble, who was one of the NBL's most valuable player speed markers so far this season.

Trimble scored most of his 19 points in the second half, but Ware was clearly imposed after trading baskets several times in the last quarter.

Ware admitted that he loved having the opportunity to resume the game.

"I like that, I'm not sorry when I get the ball," exclaimed Ware.

"I was just glad that my shot was successful today so I could make the games my team needed."

Cairns coach Mike Kelly said he was confident in his team despite falling to 1-6 this season. He also learned from the performance of Nathan Jawai (17 points, 10 rebounds) and the young import Devon Hall.

"This group is fighting as I expected them to fight, that they play hard and that they try to stay together, but it was frustrating to lose" Kelly said.

The Taipans are also frustrated by the way Jawai is judged by the referees after the center, in the center, received two unsportsmanlike fouls, the first after a controversial collision with United's Chris Goulding.

When asked if Jawai was very successful with his calls, Kelly answered "no".

"He's playing really hard and we've had technical fouls and unsportsmanlike fouls and I really think we can better manage our stuff and eliminate the referees from the equation – especially in a tight match," Kelly said.

"We need to take better care of what we can control.

"Some of the calls that Nate was called, he received the same treatment on the other end [on offence] so everyone in Cairns would be very happy. "

The win takes Melbourne to 6-3 [win-loss] with three more games to go before the international FIBA ​​break at the end of the month.

Melbourne United will face the New Zealand Breakers at Invercargill Friday at 17:50.