Cairns have moved to second on the NBL ladder and continued their home-wrecking form with a thrilling 81-77 come-from-behind victory over Melbourne United at John Cain Arena.
Adam Forde's Taipans entered Thursday's contest having won all three of their away games this season but looked set for their first loss with a 14-point deficit early in the third term before a huge run got them back in the contest.
Down 55-41, the Taipans scored the next 22 points to grab the lead for the first time since early in the opening quarter.
They took a four-point lead into the final period behind the tandem offence of Shannon Scott and Keanu Pinder.
The hosts rallied, with Rayjon Tucker and Xavier Rathan-Mayes nabbing the lead back with three-point shots the Taipans struck once more.
With a minute remaining, Cairns led 77-76. United swung the lead back, before Scott found Pinder off a high lob to snatch back the one-point advantage.
United had their chances in the dying stages but DJ Hogg iced two free throws to leave the score at 79-76.
Tucker was fouled on a three-point attempt to tie the game. He made just one of his two free throws before Hogg was fouled and, with United over the limit, iced the game at the stripe to hand Cairns the win.
Pinder led the way for the Taipans, last year's most improved player scoring 26 points and adding 10 rebounds to be plus 27 on the floor.
Scott added 19 points, nine assists and five rebounds as Cairns' floor general steered his side to their first win over United at John Cain Arena since Boxing Day 2019, ending a run of nine straight losses.
Cairns have now beaten the three leading home teams of last season on their own floor inside the opening 20 days of the campaign.
Their four win and one loss start to the season is their best since 2017.
For United, Xavier Rathan-Mayes paved the way with 21 points while Tucker added 19.
