Cairns came looking for revenge but left empty handed on Saturday night, the Taipans going down to the Adelaide 36ers 109 to 108 in their NBL match here.

After losing their home game to Adelaide two weeks ago in controversial circumstances thanks to a buzzer-beating basket, the Taipans again came up short in the dying seconds, beaten this time by a Brett Maher drive with just four seconds on the clock.

It was a heartbreaking defeat for the visitors who fought back from 11 points down at half-time to actually hit the front with seven minutes left on the clock in the final period.

For the 36ers Maher finished with 20 points while crowd favourite Willy Farley hit 23 and Dusty Rychart 23.

But Rychart really had a night to forget with a horror run of misses from the stripe and a costly lay-up falling short with less than a minute to play.

Ironically it was Rychart who came up with a vital defensive play with just 17 seconds left, forcing a turnover to Adelaide in a mad scramble near centre court.

Maher did the rest for the home side, taking it all the way to the basket for the two points that put the 36ers over the line.

Adelaide coach Phil Smyth said while the game was in control early, credit had to be given to the Taipans for fighting back.

"Cairns did a really good job to climb back into the game and then got their nose in front," he said.

"It came down to the last play and fortunately for us we executed it pretty well."

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