The Cairns Taipans beat Perth Wildcats 71-64 in the opening game of their best-of-three NBL semi-final at the Cairns Convention Centre on Friday night despite being held to just two points in the third quarter.
The minor premiers led 43-30 at halftime with the defending champion Wildcats in big trouble.
But, inspired by skipper Damian Martin's defence, the 'Cats were able to keep the Taipans to just two points the third period and, by the time they finished it off with an 11-0 run, were leading 48-45.
That set up a dramatic final quarter and the Taipans got the first eight points to reclaim the lead and Alex Loughton hit his only three-pointer of the night to put the Snakes in a match-winning position with just over a minute to go.
Scottie Wilbekin led the way for the Taipans with 23 points, 10 rebounds and four assists on the back of shooting 7-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from deep.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Cameron Tragardh delivered 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists while Wildcat Stephen Weigh scored 11 points against his former side.
Taipans coach Aaron Fearne might not have enjoyed his team's two-point third quarter, but was proud of the way they bounced back to still win.
"It was always going to be like that when you've got two pretty good teams that can really defend and that was the case. It just got a bit grindy there which is playoff basketball and I'm just extremely proud of the guys," Fearne told the NBL web site.
"We scored two points in a quarter and were still able to get away with a win so the guys should be really proud of that."
Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson was proud of how his team fought back in the second half.
"It was probably that four or five minutes in the second period that really hurt us and that was a 23-5 run to finish the half so we dug ourselves in the foot and I thought it was outstanding the way we played in the second half," Gleeson said.
"That was Wildcats basketball and we were playing with intensity, rebounding, hustling, making the extra pass and it's playoff basketball. You're not going to win bits and pieces, we have to put a full 40 minutes together."
Game two is in Perth on Sunday night.
