The Cairns Taipans edged out the Illawarra Hawks by just a single point in an intense and dramatic match at the Cairns Convention Centre last night. With a final score of 102-101, the game saw both teams take control of their respective halves until it ultimately came down to the wire.

The Hawks had a strong start, taking a 9-point lead at the end of the first quarter. However, the visiting Illawarra team also continued their dominance in the second half by taking a 5-point lead.

The third quarter is the period where the sleeping home team, the Cairns Taipans wake up and comes up with a fightback which is due to Thanks to their solid performance in both defence and attack. 

In an epic double-overtime fight against the Illawarra, Cairns overcame a 16-point deficit to win 102-101. With six of their eight wins, this NBL season coming from double-digit deficits again proves the Taipans’ tenacity is undeniable.

However, at the end of the third quarter, Taipans were able to manage a 4-points lead with clinical team performance. As both teams were determined to win this battle at all costs, the fourth ended with a tie between two teams with 87 points each.

The Taipans and the Hawks finished the first overtime with the same score of 91. It was Cairns who secured a narrow 1-point victory in the second OT. They ended the marathon match with 11 more rebounds than Illawarra.

During regulation and overtime, Cairns imports Tahjere McCall and DJ Hogg scored 23 points each while the visiting Hawks, only made 17 of 35 three-point attempts in the game.

Keanu Pinder (18 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists) and Shannon Scott (12 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists) also do their job successfully to make this comeback happen.

Michael Frazier, the Hawks’ midseason recruit, put up a massive performance for them. Besides making six of ten three-pointers and pulling down eight rebounds, the import scored 26 points on 55 percent field-goal shooting.

He was greatly supported by Sam Froling, who scored 22 points, and Tyler Harvey’s 21 points, while Peyton Siva chipped in 13 points, and Deng Deng grabbed 11 and 13 rebounds.

With this win, Cairns (8-5) bolstered their top-four standing, and for last-place Hawks (2-12), it turned out to be their second double-overtime loss this season.