BOXSCORE

The Taipans escaped with an 85-81 home Reptile Rumble win over the Townsville Crocodiles after trailing by as many as eight points in the final term on Friday.

The Crocs went hunting in the final term but the Snakes held firm in defence, renowned closer Jamar Wilson (18 points) then guiding Cairns home.

Chris Cedar dropped back-to-back threes to give the Crocs a 70-62 lead with six minutes remaining, but after an Aaron Fearne timeout Alex Loughton (15 points) and Drew Warren (25 points) did the same to bring it level.

Wilson, who has scrambled so well at the death this season for the Snakes, sealed it from there.

Crocs coach Paul Woolpert had nothing but praise for the Snakes.

"We were up 70-62 and then let them score 23 points in the last six minutes and change. You can't do that, but you've got to give them credit, they made some tough threes and three-point plays," he said.

"Warren hit some contested threes that were really tough shots."

Taipans coach Aaron Fearne was relieved his team responded well after a record-low score of 49 against Gold Coast.

"It was a big one after last week's hiding, the group's under a bit of pressure after a loss like that," he said.

After 21 turnovers last week the Taipans gave up just seven against the Crocs and managed 21 assists to be vastly improved in offence.

Fearne praised Warren's effort in particular.

"He was fantastic, got us going and got the crowd involved early," the coach said.

"I was saying to the coaching staff before the game he was probably due for a game like that at home and it was his ma's last game to see him play here and I'm sure she's pretty happy with it."

Both teams shot at around 50 per cent from the field and must have wondered why scoring seemed so difficult last weekend.

A whirlwind opening from Warren (5-of-10 from long range) gave the Snakes a 12-point lead in the second quarter.

But benchman Todd Blanchfield gave the visitors a huge boost with his three-pointer from the flank on the stroke of half-time.

The Taipans looked like jumping away in the third when Brad Hill latched on to a Jamar Wilson pass for an alley-oop, but they squandered plays at crucial moments to kill their momentum.

That allowed the Crocs to fight their way back into the game with a nine-point run to suddenly grab a 57-55 lead late in the third quarter.

Ian Crosswhite (8 assists, 7 rebounds) made the bucket and drew the foul to get it straight back for the Snakes and they held on for a 60-59 advantage to start the final quarter.

Cairns Taipans 85 (Warren 24, Wilson 18, Loughton 16)
Townsville Crocodiles 81 (Gill 17, Schenscher 16, Blanchfield 13)

Crowd: 4835 at the Cairns Convention Centre