BOXSCORE
A devastating third term helped the Carins Taipans romp to a 76-67 home win against the Perth Wildcats on Friday night.
It was all Jamar Wilson (24 points), Ian Crosswhite (8 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists) and Cairns' trademark defence as Perth’s big guns were squeezed out of the contest.
Kevin Lisch (16 points) and Jesse Wagstaff (12) finally came to life in the final five minutes to lead a late but fruitless Wildcat charge.
The Taipans led 10-4 inside the first five minutes but were kept scoreless for the rest of the quarter to trail 12-10 at the break.
Cairns' rebounding kept them in the contest, and they shot back into the lead courtesy of a Wilson three-point play late in the first half.
Wilson had 14 of the Taipans' 29 points in the first half and fellow import Drew Warren didn't open his account until he nailed a triple to start the third term.
Perth shied away from a long-range game, attempting just one three pointer in the opening two quarters.
Wilson’s opponent Damian Martin was kept scoreless until the final quarter.
Even though his usual defensive intensity forced the Taipans guards into repeated errors, Perth coach Rob Beveridge said Martin was "absolutely filthy" with his performance.
“He told the boys that after the game and that’s the way I’d hope he would react,” he said.
“I never felt like we were going to win that. If we played our style we were going to win, if they played their style they were going to win.
"And the style we ended up going with played right into their hands.”
The Taipans scored 20-1 in the first six minutes of the third quarter, including a blistering 14-0 run to start the term.
“That momentum we had in the third was pretty special,” Taipans coach Aaron Fearne said.
"For a coach to burn two time outs and still not stop it, that was pretty awesome and the energy from the crowd was pretty inspirational."
Warren hit two triples before Wilson followed suit and Brad Hill drove hard to the rim.
Warren found his range again before Cam Tovey stopped the rot. It was only short-lived though as another string of Taipans defensive stops blew the score out to 49-31.
Everything the Taipans touched turned to gold while Perth could not buy a basket in the second half as Cairns' defence continued to frustrate.
Even when Martin’s men managed to get open their aim was often astray and the Taipans capitalised to record a crucial victory.
Fearne's side won the rebound count 32-23 much to his delight.
“Rebounds was where we won it, no doubt. I don’t know many teams who have out-rebounded Perth like that,” he said.
Cairns Taipans 76 (Wilson 24, Loughton 11)
Perth Wildcats 67 (Lisch 16, Knight 13, Nevill 12, Wagstaff 12)
Crowd: 4609 at the Cairns Convention Centre
