Dalton shines as Bullets season ends in Cairns

There was no shortage of fight from the Brisbane Bullets once again in Cairns to finish an NBL season where the injuries have taken their toll but despite the Taipans winning 100-88, there were career-best showings.

Callum Dalton had the best performance of his NBL career while Keandre Cook and Tohi Smith-Milner combined to make eight three-pointers as the Bullets ended their NBL25 campaign at the Cairns Convention Centre on Thursday night.

While the Bullets did compete hard, it wasn’t quite to be as they finish the season with a 12-17 record. That doesn’t tell the full story of how many shining lights there were throughout, and how good the team was when closer to full strength.

The Bullets finished their last game of the season with plenty of strong performances once more including Cook capping off his first NBL campaign with 28 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals while hitting 5/8 from three-point range.

The Bullets competed hard, but in the end the continued absence of Tyrell Harrison, Josh Bannan, Deng Adel, Rocco Zikarsky and Emmett Naar did hurt on top of James Batemon, Jarred Bairstow and Sam McDaniel having their seasons already ended.

Casey Prather scored another 19 points and five rebounds while Tyrell Harrison's concussion replacement, Dalton, had the best performance of his NBL career with 10 points and five rebounds.

Josh Adams also had nine points for the Bullets with Smith-Milner finishing with nine points, seven rebounds and two blocks, Mitch Norton eight points and three assists, and Isaac White five points and three assists.

Impressively, the Bullets were +12 against the Taipans in the 24 minutes that White was on the floor.

Cairns guard Taran Armstrong finished with a triple-double consisting of 28 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists with Sam Waardenburg adding 23 points and seven rebounds while Tanner Groves scored 15 points and Pedro Bradshaw 14.

It was Tohi Smith-Milner knocking down a three-pointer to open the scoring for the Bullets before Keandre Cook and Casey Prather got in on the action.

Then after the Taipans had managed to open up a 12-point advantage, Brisbane finished the first quarter strongly starting with a triple from Cook and then when he scored again on the buzzer, he had 13 points to his name and the Bullets were only trailing by six.

Josh Adams made a couple of baskets early in the second frame before Smith-Milner nailed his second three-pointer of the night and Isaac White hit another to close the Cairns lead to a solitary point.

Then after the Snakes managed to open up another seven-point lead, it was Callum Dalton who had the best few minutes of his NBL career.

Having previously never scored more than four points in an NBL game, he scored six straight points all at the foul line before scoring twice more before half-time including throwing down a slam on the pass from Cook.

Those 10 points from him were crucial in the Bullets tying scores up at 48-48 with the Taipans at the half where they were able to take nine extra field goals on the back of pulling down nine offensive rebounds.

Cook then opened up the second half hitting a three ball for the Bullets to give them a three-point lead before Prather fired up and ended up scoring nine points in the third quarter for the Bullets.

That kept things close with the Taipans only leading 73-71 by three quarter-time before it was again Cook who tied scores up to open the final period.

However, from there Cairns blew the game open by scoring the next 11 points and while the Bullets kept on fighting in response including a couple more three-point makes from Cook and another from Smith-Milner, it proved a bridge too far with the Taipans ending up winning by 12.

It brings an end to the season for the Bullets with the MVP Awards Gala to celebrate the NBL25 season next on the agenda on Friday night at The Star Brisbane's Ballroom.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

BRISBANE BULLETS 88 (Cook 28, Prather 19, Dalton 10)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 100 (Armstrong 28, Waardenburg 23, Groves 15)

BOX SCORE