ALTHOUGH his Cairns Taipans fell six points short of the New Zealand Breakers in Round 10 of the National Basketball League (NBL) over the weekend, Jack McVeigh put together a magnificent offensive performance despite the result.

McVeigh’s move up north from the Tasmania JackJumpers was one of the biggest storylines of the offseason, and although his start to the 2025/26 season was interrupted by injury, the former Grand Final MVP seems to have found his groove of late, stringing together consecutive standout scoring performances as the Taipans look to climb the standings.

Although the Taipans had home court advantage at Cairns Convention Centre on Friday night, the Breakers seemed to be in control across all four quarters, jumping out to an early lead and never looking back, holding on for a six-point triumph in enemy territory.

The Taipans would not have been in the contest at all if not for the performance of McVeigh, who tried to single-handedly drag his side over the line and was the main source of scoring for the home side in Queensland.

Cairns Taipans (96) def. by New Zealand Breakers (102)

Jack McVeigh – 35 points, seven rebounds, four assists

McVeigh was a one-man army against the Breakers over the weekend, completely dominating on the offensive end for one of the highest individual scoring performances of the 2025/26 fixture to date, and convincingly backed up his 39-point performance against the Adelaide 36ers.

He opened his scoring account with a nice turnaround jumper over his opponent to keep the Taipans in the match after the Breakers started the contest with nine of the first 11 points of the match. McVeigh’s next few shots did not fall, but he did manage another fading shot from midrange before the end of the term to help cut the margin back down to eight points.

It did not take him long to find the bottom of the net in the second frame, using his body and touch once again to nail a turnaround basket, this time through contact and he converted the and-one promptly. McVeigh showed his defensive desire with a nice block on Parker Jackson-Cartwright‘s driving layup and the Taipans were dragging themselves back into the contest.

McVeigh nailed a bomb from behind the arc, before a pair of free throws and another fading shot from midrange helped the Taipans remarkably take the lead, and although the Breakers eventually gained the advantage back prior to half-time, it was still promising signs from Cairns.

Once again the forward was the spark to start the third frame with yet another fadeaway jumper, which was becoming his go-to shot given the amount of success he was finding. Although he went quiet for a few minutes, McVeigh popped back up with another pair of pull-up shots from three-point land to crucially keep the match from getting away from the Taipans, although they still trailed by 11 points at the final change.

He hit the scoreboard a few minutes into the final frame with a pair of free throws as the home side began to chip away at the deficit. McVeigh was continuing to find success shooting over opponents, including a turnaround jumpshot from behind the arc in a made basket with a high degree of difficulty.

Another triple helped cut the margin down to five points, before the Breakers responded accordingly, and although McVeigh tried to keep his side in the contest, he was overrun by a strong team showing from New Zealand.

The Boomer finished with 35 points on 12/21 shooting from the field and 5/12 shooting from behind the arc to go with seven boards and four assists, and although the result was not ideal, it is hard to deny the impact McVeigh had on the match.