American forward Greg Whittington and guard Jason Cadee starred for the Sydney Kings in Saturday night's 92-78 NBL victory over the Cairns Taipans at Qudos Bank Arena.
The Kings lost backcourt dynamo Kevin Lisch to a head injury in the third period and were down by a point with a quarter to play.
Cadee rose to the occasion in Lisch's absence, erupting for 17 of his game-high 23 points in the final quarter
"I feel like I've matured and learned a lot," Cadee said.
"I'm really finding my spot in the team.
"When we lost Kev I just took it upon myself to be aggressive and it worked out well."
Whittington scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half and added nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
Sydney were backing up after Thursday night's 88-84 road win over Illawarra and completed a perfect week to improve their record to 2-1 after two rounds.
To start the game on Saturday the Kings raced to a 7-0 lead but the Taipans didn't panic, patiently chipping away and forging ahead 24-23 at quarter-time.
The visitors maintained the upper hand by a small margin throughout the second period, only to slip behind 42-39 at halftime.
Cairns seized the momentum in the third and were leading by four when Lisch crashed to the floor after colliding with a Taipans player.
He was assisted from the court by Kings medical staff and played no further part in the match.
Cadee connected with a three-pointer in the closing seconds of the third quarter to cut Cairns' lead to 66-65.
He continued to find the bottom of the net down the stretch to give rookie Kings coach Andrew Gaze his second NBL win.
The Taipans are winless after two games.
Sydney face a hectic schedule in round three, taking on the New Zealand Breakers in Auckland next Thursday and hosting the Illawarra Hawks the following Monday.
The Taipans have one game scheduled in round three - next Friday's road meeting with the Adelaide 36ers.
SYDNEY KINGS 92 (Cadee 23, Whittington 21, Newley 13)
CAIRNS TAIPANS 78 (Gliddon 13, Egwu 12, Trice 10)
