The game was so close that the biggest margin between the two teams ended up being the final score of 55-51.

Taipans led 16-13 at quarter time, but Hawks gained the ascendancy in the second period and went into the half-time break leading 27-25.

Taipans hit back with a vengeance in the next quarter, and by  the final break had surged back to the front 39-37.

For the first five minutes of  the final quarter, neither side was able to build a winning break until Lachie Mitchell sank a offensive rebound for the Hawks.

Fletcher Rawlinson answered back as he bombed away off the boards for triple to tie up the game at 44 apiece.

It was the Hawks that eventually broke the deadlock to lead by two with 30 seconds remaining, and then heaped on the pain with the last basket, sending the Taipans home empty-handed.