Tanya is a Statistician with the Cairns Taipans Basketball Team

The Brisbane Bullets have exacted revenge on the Cairns Taipans by beating their Queensland rivals 100-85 at the Brisbane Convention Centre on Friday

The Bullets were beaten by the Taipans in overtime on Wednesday but were never threatened in the rematch - opening up a 14 point lead in the first quarter and protecting that buffer for the rest of the clash

Cairns matched Brisbane for three quarters but struggled to string together the baskets needed to close the gap

Sam Mackinnon finished the match with the best statistics, finishing with 33 points, 14 rebounds and six assists

CJ Bruton finished with 18 points while Dusty Rychart scored 12 points

Martin Cattalini couldn't reproduce his 51 point effort from earlier in the week but still managed to top score for the Taipans with 22 points

Darnell Mee chimed in with 15 points and Aaron Grabau finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds

The Bullets were out of the blocks quickly and, thanks to seven early points to Bruton, raced to a 14-0 lead
The Taipans' offensive game eventually kicked in and they worked their way back into the contest
Grabau dropped the last bucket of the period to reduce the margin to 14 at the first change (30-16)

Brisbane and Cairns went basket for basket in the second quarter with the Bullets unable to break away from their opponent
The Bullets' shooting from long-range gave them the edge
They scored a handful of three-pointers during the stanza, including three from Mackinnon
Mick Hill was fouled with seven seconds left on the clock and his two subsequent foul shots saw Brisbane hold a 59-45 lead

The arm wrestle continued in the second half with the teams sharing the scoring duties
Neither side could get on top and when Rychart scored just before the buzzer to make it a 77-63 game with 12 minutes to play

Mackinnon and Rychart scored back-to-back baskets in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, ensuring the Bullets' lead remained healthy
The Taipans went to the line on a number of occasions but the foul shots didn't provide the rush of points the visitors needed to stage a comeback
A Mackinnon long-bomb saw the Brisbane's score tick over to triple figures while Kevin Owens dropped the last bucket of the contest

The victory leaves the Bullets with an 11-5 record while the Taipans have eight wins and six losses