The Cairns Taipans have consolidated third position on the NBL ladder with a hard-fought 96-89 win over the Illawarra Hawks at the WIN Entertainment Centre.
After a scratchy start, Cairns rattled off a 22-0 burst either side of quarter-time on Monday night to open up an 18-point lead before successfully holding off the Hawks' best fightback efforts.
Americans Shannon Scott (18 points) and DJ Hogg (16) led an even display from the Taipans who had six players in double digits and, despite missing star Keanu Pinder (ankle), snapped a 10-game losing streak in Wollongong which stretched back to 2016.
"It's always good when you do it by committee," Taipans coach Adam Forde said.
"As usual DJ closed it out with some big plays at the end."
Sam Froling (25 points, 13 rebounds) and Tyler Harvey (21 points) stood up for the home side.
Without injured import duo Michael Frazier (hamstring tightness) and Peyton Siva (shoulder), the bottom-placed, undermanned Hawks made a fast start, pulling ahead 11-2.
When New Year's Eve hero Scott went off briefly to have a leg knock assessed, Ayre was injected into the game and played the quarter of his life.
The back-up guard poured in 15 points to spark the Snakes and give them a narrow quarter-time lead.
The floodgates continued to open in the second stanza as the Taipans rattled off the first 17 points to hold sway 44-28 before Illawarra responded with a 12-0 run of their own, helping trim the deficit to 58-48 at halftime.
The Hawks continued to chip away, scoring the last eight points of the third term to close to within three and taking the lead in the fourth via a Harvey floater.
Illawarra clearly had the momentum but down the stretch their offensive execution turned diabolical as Cairns, conversely, held their nerve in impressive fashion.
"I can't not be proud of the guys with their effort," Hawks coach Jacob Jackomas said.
"It's a tough one with guys coming in and out of the roster (with injuries) through no-one's fault.
"There were some mistakes we made that cost us victory ... the mistakes we made were 'inexperience' mistakes."
