South East Melbourne Phoenix have snapped a four-game NBL losing streak and are back in the finals hunt with an important 86-74 victory over Cairns in far north Queensland.
The win sees Simon Mitchell's side sit just one win back from fourth-place Illawarra, with both teams in action on Sunday.
Xavier Munford paved the way for the Phoenix (12-9) early as the Taipans had no answer for his high screen and roll actions, with the American guard powering to 19 first-half points.
Without imposing centre Zhou Qi, South East Melbourne went to reserve big man Brandon Ashley who dominated the interior and attacked offensive mismatches to score 21 of his game-high 25 points in the second half.
With a reputation for foul trouble, Ashley was calm and precise on defence and in turn played the benefactor on the offensive end as Mitch Creek's interior passing found him to finish on an efficient 8-of-9 shooting and nine from 12 from the stripe.
"I thought he (Ashley) did a great job tonight of just cleaning up a few aspects to his game to not put himself in a position to foul and it's so important for our team, especially with big Zhou out," coach Mitchell said after the win.
"It's really pleasing to get him those minutes, I'm really thrilled for him with having the stage to do that on and getting consecutive touches and that's really good for the growth of our team as well."
For the Taipans (5-14), they lived and died by the three-point shot as their opposition consistently forced them into shots on the perimeter.
Of their 33 field goal attempts in the first half, 19 came from deep with just three of them falling as the home side finished 5-of-29 from beyond the arc.
"That was sort of the message at halftime was: I appreciate everyone's enthusiasm to shoot it and pull the trigger and enjoy it - It's not dropping for us - so let's go into the second half with the idea that we want to get a little bit more on the rim, gets the foul line, look for our post touches," coach Adam Forde said.
"But then the second half, I think we sacrifice some good looks from the perimeter in trying to deliver that message."
"So it's another balancing act that we need to work on."
South East Melbourne have a quick turnaround when they face Adelaide on the road to kick off Sunday's NBL action, with the Taipans playing New Zealand in Cairns to end the round.
