Last year's NBL cellar dwellers Brisbane have given fans plenty of hope they can return to the playoffs this season with a tough five-point victory in their Queensland derby against Cairns.
The Bullets led at every quarter on Friday night to record a 83-78 win.
Centre Tom Jarvis top-scored with 18 points, including two key baskets in the dying minutes as well as taking the high-game rebounding honours with eight boards.
Veteran Taipans centre Alex Loughton injected himself off the bench to top the visitors' score sheet with 15 points.
Brisbane came out strongly leading 18-10 midway through the opening term before Cairns upped the tempo to close the margin to 52-49 at halftime.
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It was the Bullets' second win in three games and the first at home at Brisbane Entertainment Centre. For the Taipans, it was their second-straight loss after starting with back-to-back wins.
Cairns did not get enough out of their late inclusion Jerry Evans Junior who, after striking early foul trouble, finished with seven points and four rebounds.
With 209cm power centre Nathan Jawai and star Venzuelan import Michael Carrera both out with long-term injuries, Cairns came up short in the final quarter but went down fighting.
"It's a real challenge now without Nate and without Carrera playing," said Fearne.
"We're down two major pieces to our group and guys are real trying find a way to fight and compete and wins games."
Winning coach Andrej Lemanis spoke of his team's defensive grit in the final quarter when Cairns kept coming at them.
"We showed some character and a bit heart and competed really hard," he said.
"The guys have been getting into each other at training, competing and putting some pride into our defence which was the challenge tonight.
"We showed tonight when our mindset is right and our intensity is right we are a pretty good defensive team and that's where it starts."
