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The Sydney Kings have come away with a hard-fought victory over a resilient Cairns Taipans side with a 92-78 victory.
» Re-live all the action with our live blog
Jason Cadee came through in the clutch, scoring 17 points in the last quarter as Sydney pulled away to win their second game of the season.
The 25-year-old finished the game with 23 points, leading all scorers as the Kings began their new life at Qudos Bank Arena on a positive note, following a tough clash against the Illawarra Hawks.
While all eyes on the newly signed Josh Powell making his home debut, it was Greg Whittington who impressed in the first quarter, missing only one shot on his way to 14 points.
Whittington posted 6 points in under two minutes, finishing off a three-point play and burying a deep three-pointer.
But with under three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Sydney fans held their breath as Kevin Lisch went down after colliding awkwardly with Mark Worthington.
While the newly-nationalised Australian would pass the concussion protocol in the locker room, he would not return to the game.
And Taipans were never quite out of the contest with some hot shooting in the third giving them a slim one-point leading heading into the final quarter.
Their field goal percentage rocketed from 39 per cent to 51 per cent but they weren’t able to continue making baskets as the Sydney defence held them to only 12 points while also forcing six turnovers.
Head coach Andrew Gaze acknowledged the hard work of Cadee to finish the game but was most impressed by the Kings’ defence.
He said, “we were good enough on the defensive end to hold on and that’s the most pleasing thing.
“When it counted, we were able to come up defensively and get stops.”
Cadee echoed the words of Gaze and knew that he would be forced to take on a bigger role in the second half.
“When you see Kevin go down, you look around and coach said that ‘it’s on you.
“I took that role to get us going here and it was nice to get that [three-pointer] heading into the fourth quarter. I took it upon myself to really be aggressive.”
Cairns meanwhile were disappointed with the lacklustre finish, playing competitively throughout the majority of the game before slumping offensively in the final 10 minutes.
Cameron Gliddon said: “We were in it for three quarters and I can’t fault that but to let it go the way we did is disappointing.”
Meanwhile head coach Aaron Fearne is looking for consistency across his squad.
“Everyone has to do their thing and it’s a timing thing, we want to do that but we’re just not quite on the same page.
“We had two opportunities to win game on the road but we’re not playing very good basketball.”
The game also marked the home debut for Josh Powell, who finished the contest with eight points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes of action.
The two-time NBA champion was involved in an incident with Worthington and Mitch McCarron, which saw the 33-year-old get hit with an unsportsmanlike foul.
But Gaze isn’t worried about other teams looking to bait the American.
“I think he’s intimidating. He’s big and powerful and he communicates well. He’s only had one training session but he’s picked up everything quite well.
“He’s going to be an important part going forward.”
Sydney next face the New Zealand Breakers across the Tasman while the Taipans finish their road trip with a clash against the Adelaide 36ers.
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