A superb team performance from the Cairns Taipans has seen them overpower the South Dragons on the way to an impressive 125-96 victory before a crowd of 3470 at the Cairns Convention Centre on Saturday night.
Smooth shooting was the key as six Cairns players got into double figures. Stephen Black was the star with 24 of his 29 points in the first half while Larry Abney contributed 22 in another strong performance that shows him settling into his role in the team without the injured Martin Cattalini.
Taipans coach Alan Black was thrilled with the effort of his team and its ability to overcome the odds after starting without their inspirational skipper Darnell Mee.
"That's one of the best wins I've been associated with," he buzzed.
"These guys believe in the group and believe in themselves."
The Taipans started the match well utilising their strong inside game with Abney and Nathan Jawai scoring 14 of their side's first 16 points as the home side took control early.
Leading 25-17 with three minutes to play in the first, Cairns turned the match on its head with five straight three pointers to finish the quarter.
Black had the hot hand nailing three, his final one with two seconds on the clock gave the Taipans their best opening quarter of the year and they were cheered off court to a standing ovation leading 40-22.
The second quarter had two distinct parts. The visitors began with a strong fight-back keeping Cairns scoreless for the opening five minutes to close the gap to 10.
But things quickly turned ugly for the visitors handing back plenty of easy points with three tech-fouls.
The Taipans looked nothing like the worst offensive team in the league leading 68-44 at the main break, with Black leading all scorers with four three-pointers and 10 free-throws making up the majority of his 24 points.
Bakari Hendrix led the way for the Dragons with 14 while Cortez Groves was kept very quiet with only two points for the half.
Cairns continued on its merry way in the third as both teams scored freely.
The term boiled over with 30 seconds to play when both Shane Heal and Dwayne Vale were given unsportsmanlike fouls after a scuffle.
The crowd erupted on the buzzer as the two came together again with Heal hammering Vale who was driving to the hoop.
The result was the end of the night for the Dragons playing coach while Vale nailed the pair of free-throws to give the Taipans the 100-70 lead.
The Dragons had the consolation of winning the final quarter 26-25 with Hendrix very difficult to stop inside, but they lacked the outside shooting options of the Taipans and the game was over by half-time.
Heal was extremely disappointed with his team's performance.
"We lost to a better team tonight, we just didn't play well enough," he said.
"The way we are playing we won't make the play offs."
The Taipans now sit at 8-7 for the season will enjoy the week off before they take on the Razorbacks at home. They will be hoping seven days is enough for Mee to recover from his lingering ankle injury and for Jawai and Scott Cook to overcome injuries after both limped from the court.
The Dragons season is now looking very wobbly at 4-11 and they must re-group quickly before taking on the in-form Blaze on the Gold Coast on Wednesday.
Cairns Taipans 125 (Black 29, Abney 22, Jawai 18)
South Dragons 96 (Hendrix 32, Burston 21, Heal 11)
@ Cairns Convention Centre, 1/12/2007, Crowd: 3470