The Cairns Taipans were beaten by the Adelaide 36ers in an NBL preseason game on Tuesday evening in South Australia

The Cairns Taipans were beaten by the Adelaide 36ers in an NBL preseason game on Tuesday evening in South Australia.

BALLARAT, AUSTRALIA — SEPTEMBER 23: Cairns Taipans Head Coach Mike Kelly talks to his players during the 2018 NBL Blitz match between the New Zealand Breakers and Cairns Taipans at Ballarat Minerdrome on September 23, 2018 in Ballarat, Australia. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

THE Cairns Taipans have been blown out by Adelaide in their final preseason game before the NBL season commences.

In an up-tempo game in South Australia, the Snakes were never really in the contest after the first term as the 36ers, who played in the NBL grand final last season, controlled the game on their home floor.

Lucas Walker, Nate Jawai and Dexter Kernich-Drew all did not feature in the game as the Snakes settled for plenty of outside shots in the 99-75 defeat.

New coach Mike Kelly, as he has for much of the pre-season, shared the minutes around with reserves and development players seeing healthy time on court.

Adelaide pair Majok Deng and Anthony Drmic put on a dunk show in the first term as the hosts took a 27-17 lead into the opening change.

Taipans DJ Newbill with 36ers Harry Jacob Wiley. Photo — Naomi Jellicoe.

Shooting guard Drmic caused the most issues for the Taipans, from the inside and out.

A Nathan Sobey triple with five minutes to go in the second term pushed the lead to a then game-high 17 for the 36ers.

Cairns edged closer closing in on halftime, trailing 55-40 at the long break.

Point guard Melo Trimble, who was the shining light for Cairns in the loss, sent an injury scare through the team in the third term with a heavy fall but returned in the last quarter.

Import Trimble finished with 16 points in the loss.

Centre Jawai sat on the bench but did not enter the game after also missing the club’s first game of the NBL Blitz against Sydney.

The Taipans went 1-2 at the Blitz in Victoria last weekend.

The game against the 36ers was the last the club will play before the season proper starts next month.

Originally published as The Cairns Taipans were beaten by the Adelaide 36ers in an NBL preseason game on Tuesday evening in South Australia