Jack McVeigh's hot shooting masterclass has guided Cairns to a 100-92 win over Perth, sending the Wildcats tumbling to seventh position on the NBL ladder.
McVeigh poured in 36 points, including 8-of-15 three-pointers, at Perth's RAC Arena on Sunday as the Taipans stormed to fourth spot, bouncing back emphatically from their shock home loss to the last-placed Illawarra Hawks 72 hours earlier.
Import Jaylon Brown (22 points, 6-of-10 threes) and veteran Shaun Bruce (14, 3-of-3) supported McVeigh, as Cairns landed 20 triples.
"For us to be successful, it has to be that way - we can't play a different mode," Taipans coach Adam Forde said after his side attempted 44 three-point shots.
"When we play our way, that's our point of difference."
Elijah Pepper (26 points) and Kristian Doolittle (20) were the best for the Wildcats, who have lost four straight after sitting third a fortnight ago.
McVeigh was in a mood from the start, firing in 16 first-quarter points, including four threes, to give Cairns a 31-27 edge at the opening break.
Perth hit 10-of-14 from the field for the term but let themselves down with six turnovers.
The Wildcats took better care of the ball in the second quarter, while Doolittle produced the game's biggest highlight with a huge dunk on Taipans defensive dynamo Malique Lewis, who had five first-half blocks.
But they still had their hands full with McVeigh (23 first-half points) and Brown, who had nine treys between them as Cairns held sway 53-48 at intermission.
The red-hot McVeigh poured in 13 more points in the third period, most of them under pressure, to stretch the Taipans' advantage to 77-65 at three-quarter-time.
Perth had the Red Army up and about when they closed the gap to 79-74, before Cairns scored eight unanswered points.
The Wildcats responded with an 8-0 run of their own to trim the deficit back to 87-82 but, keeping with the trend of the game, the Snakes had the answers every time, with Lewis and Bruce warding off the home side.
"We're just not playing good enough as a group," Perth coach John Rillie said.
"We show good patches at both ends of the floor at different moments. But overall, we're not playing good enough for long enough.
"We're seeing the results of how we're performing right now."
