ON A hot night in Bendigo, it was the Cairns Taipans who turned up the heat on Melbourne United, with the former ladder leaders bested by the 10th-placed visitors to the tune of one point in the National Basketball League (NBL) Ignite Cup.

United and the Taipans both travelled to Red Energy Arena in Bendigo, and although Melbourne has been out of form over the past couple of months following a 10-0 start to the season, the hosts were still expected to get the job done in their home state.

However, what unfolded proved to be a thrilling contest, and the Taipans showed the ability to stand up under pressure and ended up claiming their best win of the 2025/26 season to show there is promise up north.

Melbourne United (92) def. by Cairns Taipans (93)

The unlikely hero of the match proved to be Marcus Lee, with the former United big man delivering the most important moment of the contest down the stretch. With the match tied at 92 points apiece, Lee caught a pass under the basket before being fouled and the center was sent to the free throw line with just seconds on the clock.

A 56 per cent shooter on the season from the charity stripe, Lee had ice in his veins against his old team, knocking down one of his two shots to give the Taipans the lead in the closing stages of the match, and Melbourne simply could not answer down the other end as Cairns pulled off its best result of the past 12 months.

It was Cairns’ shooting that got the visitors over the line, with the Taipans shooting 62 per cent from the field and nailing 11 three-pointers from 21 attempts. On the other hand, United were able to get the upper hand on the glass which resulted in the home side attempting an extra 27 shots in comparison to their opponents.

However, a lack of efficiency from behind the arc proved costly for Melbourne, as it could not capitalise on its chances and with the Taipans firing on all cylinders, allowed the underdogs to remain in the contest and eventually snatch the win.

The Taipans were well-led by a vintage floor general performance from Andrew Andrews, who controlled the tempo masterfully and generated plenty of scoring opportunities for himself and others. He finished the match with 13 points and 13 assists, and dished the ball to Lee for the match winning play in the final seconds.

Star forward Jack McVeigh finished with 20 points of his own to go with nine rebounds, while Sam Waardenburg was also impressive with 20 points and nine boards of his own as the pair worked well in tandem with their firing point guard.

It was a bounce back performance from Chris Goulding, who delivered his best outing in quite some time with 27 points to return to form and almost lead Melbourne to victory. He remains crucial to United’s championship hopes, and showed how damaging he can still be.

The win lifts the Taipans off the bottom of the ladder, and could help spark the NBL’s northernmost team in the back half of the fixture as they look to trouble some contending sides in the coming months.