A MAGNIFICENT shooting performance from Dejan Vasiljevic has propelled the Adelaide 36ers past the Cairns Taipans at Cairns Convention Centre in Sunday’s National Basketball League action.

With time running out to book a spot in the top six at season’s end, the Sixers came into the clash needing to get a win if they were to keep their hopes of making the play-in alive. On the other hand, the Taipans would be playing for pride after being officially eliminated from postseason contention, but had troubled some of the best teams in the NBL in recent weeks.

Despite the slight chance of an upset, Adelaide looked in control of the match from the get-go. The Sixers stormed out to an early lead and never surrendered their advantage. The Taipans tried hard to claw back into the match, but had no match for their output of their opponents, eventually falling by 24 points in a blowout affair.

The Sixers got out to their match-winning lead in the first quarter largely due to the efforts of Vasiljevic, who posted some of the best numbers of his career in a crucial win for Adelaide.

Cairns Taipans (75) def. by Adelaide 36ers (99)

Dejan Vasiljevic – 32 points, four rebounds, one assist

It was a lights-out shooting performance from Vasiljevic in the big win over the Taipans, particularly to start the match.

The NBL champion knocked down a whopping seven triples in the first quarter in a remarkable display of long-range shooting in enemy territory. After splashing home his first few attempts from behind the arc in the opening minutes of the game, ‘DJ’ began to take heat checks from deep behind the three-point line, including one from just inside halfcourt that banked in, demonstrating just how well he was seeing the basket.

It was his first quarter output which truly broke the game open, setting himself up for a big performance from the field. Although he managed just three more shots from downtown for the remainder of the game, it was still the equal-most three-pointers made in a match in NBL history.

When he is in form, Vasiljevic is one of the most game-breaking players in the NBL, but in recent seasons, teams have been guarding him quite tight from the perimeter and pressing up whenever he is looking to get open. However, the Taipans clearly gave him too much room around the perimeter, and he punished them accordingly.

Given how stacked the 36ers roster is, the shooting guard sometimes slips under the radar, and with plenty of defensive pressure on his teammates, he was able to get off the chain against the Taipans for a big outing.