The Wollongong Hawks maintained their unbeaten run at home with a spirited 73-59 comeback victory over the Cairns Taipans on Saturday.

The Hawks erased a 16-point deficit in the third quarter behind the magnificent play of Adris Deleon, who poured in 19 of his 23 points during a whirlwind second half.

"We did a lot of things well in the last quarter and a half, our defence was disruptive and we rebounded very well," Hawks coach Gordie McLeod said.

"We had great contributions off the bench, a lot of energy, a lot of effort and it was a great team effort."

Alex Loughton had 14 points for Cairns, who only mustered seven points in the final quarter to stand at 3-5 on the season.

"We got caught up in the moment, the lead disappeared and so did the game," Taipans coach Aaron Fearne said.

"We needed that mental toughness to deal with the environment and the momentum of what's going on at that time, and being mature enough to deal with it and continue to make plays."

Rhys Martin fuelled the Hawks early, instantly turning defence into offence with a crafty block on Jamar Wilson's three-point attempt, before racing down the court for an easy lay-up.

Wollongong claimed the opening quarter 17-12, taking advantage of the Taipans slow start where they shot just 4-of-21 from the field.

Cairns heated up in the second, chipping away through baskets by Shane Edwards and Clint Steindl, while the Hawks replied with three-pointers by Oscar Forman (15 points, 5/8 three-point shooting, 9 rebounds) and Lance Hurdle.

The Taipans eventually glued together a 10-0 run to close the half up 33-29, Edwards capping the spurt with a breakaway dunk and full-court sprint for a buzzer-beating lay-up.

Consecutive threes by Loughton and Aaron Grabau opened up a sudden 12-point buffer for Cairns early in the third.

The Taipans led by as much as 16 but saw their buffer quickly dissolve when Deleon spearheaded a late 14-0 run, leaving Cairns hanging onto a slim 52-49 edge with ten minutes to play.

Martin kick-started a perfect final quarter for Wollongong with consecutive baskets, while Deleon pounced on a loose ball to set up a Larry Davidson alley-oop that had the crowd at fever pitch.

Dave Gruber then featured in two crucial broken plays to pave the way for Deleon, who closed out the win with seven late points.

Wollongong Hawks 73 (Deleon 21, Forman 15, Martin 9)
Cairns Taipans 59 (Loughton 14, Tragardh 8, Wilson 6)

Crowd: 3826 at WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong