Cairns Taipans have maintained their stranglehold on second in the NBL and clinched a playoff spot with an important 94-87 win over state rivals Brisbane.
Adam Forde's side is now one win ahead of New Zealand in the standings, after the Breakers thwarted a late comeback in Saturday's earlier game against Melbourne United.
Cairns relied on Tahjere McCall, DJ Hogg and Bul Kuol through three quarters as the trio tallied 21 points each and were the only scorers aside from Sam Waardenburg (five points) through 30 minutes of action.
McCall suffered a heavy fall just before halftime and departed the game briefly, but returned clearly hurt in the second half and played through the pain for the win in front of their home crowd.
Heading into the final term with a two-point buffer, their bench finally got going, Majok Deng hitting three important triples and Shannon Scott adding seven vital points.
The scoring trio would finish with 23 points apiece as Forde's side held on by seven to register their 17th win of the season and eight consecutive against Brisbane in the sunshine stoush.
With just two games remaining and several players managing injuries, Forde said the extra time off from a top-two finish is paramount.
"We're the walking wounded at the moment," he said.
"If we can limp over the finish line it's not that big of a deal -we've got a little bit more time to rest and recover with staying top two. So, these games are really important and that's what we're going for."
For the Bullets, Nathan Sobey led the way with 27 points on 40 per cent shooting and Tyler Johnson added 20 of his own.
Brisbane pushed their rivals all the way through Saturday's contest and trailed by only one at halftime following a high-scoring affair that see-sawed behind mini-runs by both teams.
Sobey lit up the Cairns Convention Centre with 13 first-quarter points while Kuol found his regular form in derby games for 12 of his own.
The Bullets enjoyed a six-point margin at first break after finishing the quarter on a 21-9 run but Cairns' ability to find the painted area resulted in 20 first-half free throw attempts, of which they hit 17.
Brisbane dominated the opening half rebound count 25-11 and had 13 second-chance points but 12 turnovers proved costly and Forde's side capitalised with 14 points coming from them.
Cairns finish their season with games against Adelaide at home and a road trip to Perth in round 18.
