South East Melbourne have responded to a third-quarter meltdown to come home with a rush and steamroll Cairns 99-94 in their NBL clash at John Cain Arena.
The Phoenix saw their powerful 63-50 halftime lead transform into a worrying 82-75 three-quarter time deficit on Saturday night before recovering strongly to boss the Taipans 24-12 in the fourth term.
Nathan Sobey top-scored for the hosts with 26 points, while import Matt Hurt racked up 19 points and 14 rebounds as SEM continued their mid-season surge under interim coach Josh King.
American Rob Edwards (24 points) and guard Taran Armstrong (18) led the way for the Snakes, who looked primed to end their 10-game losing skid before halting to a standstill.
"We were kind of dead in the water at the end of the third," King said.
"We needed to come back out with some energy and some pop.
"If we didn't, we probably weren't going to win the game."
Sobey was the early aggressor, contributing 11 of the Phoenix's season-high 39 first-quarter points in an up-and-down bruise-free first 10 minutes.
Cairns scored the first nine points of the second and trimmed the margin to one point when import Pedro Bradshaw knocked down a triple, before they were trampled all the way to the main break.
The Phoenix uncorked a 14-2 tear in the last four minutes of the quarter, highlighted by captain Jordan Hunter's monster dunk on Kyrin Galloway, to sprint ahead 63-50 at the main interval.
Edwards' 12-point third quarter combined with a plague of turnovers by the Phoenix saw the contest flip on its head.
He tied the scores at 71-all, hit a deuce for the lead, then Galloway threw down successive slams to have the visiting Taipans rolling with one period to play.
But the Snakes went ice cold in the fourth.
SEM scored the first nine points of the term, recaptured the lead on a tough Sobey drive, and continued to dominate down the stretch, winning the quarter 24-6 before Cairns sharpshooter Jonah Antonio salvaged some respectability with two late threes.
"In the first four-minute stretch (of the fourth quarter), I counted we had four missed layups, two threes that fell out of the rim, then we had confusion on our defensive coverage," Taipans coach Adam Forde said.
"We have these lapses that are extremely costly."
