Snakes strike late in thriller

The CQUniversity Cairns Taipans had every reason to think everything was stacked against them, but a Lat Mayen walk-off three-pointer delivered them a stunning 93-92 road NBL victory over the Illawarra Hawks.

Despite having key trio Tahjere McCall, Akoldah Gak and Taran Armstrong fouling out, and big men Sam Waardenburg and Bobi Klintman not playing, the Snakes wouldn't be denied at WIN Entertainment Centre on Thursday night.

Cairns were looking to make it back-to-back wins and replace the Hawks in the top six, and ended up doing that despite having plenty working against them.

Fouls continued to plague the Taipans as they sent the Hawks to the free-throw line 32 times (they made just 20), with Gak (five points, 11 rebounds) and Armstrong (nine points, six assists, six rebounds) fouling out early in the fourth.

McCall (28 points, seven rebounds, six assists) joined them late after his starring performance.

The Snakes were up against it from a personnel front, with the challenge of stopping the Illawarra big men daunting. That proved the case too, with Gary Clark threatening to play match-winner for the Hawks.

The NBA veteran of 177 games produced his best performance in the NBL for the Hawks with 36 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the floor and 10-of-14 at the foul line, but it wasn't enough.

The Taipans worked their way on top in the second quarter to go into half-time leading 44-40.

They remained narrow leaders for most of the second half, including by five points with three minutes to play after a triple from Bul Kuol (14 points) on a Josh Roberts offensive rebound.

Tyler Harvey (13 points, six assists) produced a trademark late three to tie up scores for Illawarra soon after.

Clark produced a three-point play to get McCall out of the game, and the Hawks were up 92-90 with 12 seconds to go.

That set up the final possession, and after Patrick Miller (16 points, five assists) missed a driving attempt, he was able to collect the offensive rebound and dish out to a wide open Mayen.

The forward has never lacked confidence and his three-point attempt never looked like missing.

Mayen finished with 11 points and delivered the Snakes the one-point win to improve to 11-12 and replace the Hawks (9-11) in sixth position.