A sour taste was left in West Sydney Razorbacks forward Russell Hinder's mouth despite inspiring a sweet 99-84 National Basketball League victory over an in-form Cairns Taipans.

Defensive specialist Hinder put the Pigs on track for victory by hitting a career high 18 points before he was ejected along with Taipans big man Melvin Thomas in an ugly off the ball altercation with just four minutes left in the match.

With West Sydney leading 84-67, the pair appeared to exchange words before Thomas pushed Hinder hard to the floor.

A melee then threatened to erupt as Hinder quickly got up to confront Thomas before Cairns playmaker Marcus Timmons and officials stepped in to separate the pair.

When the dust settled, the Pigs had finally ended Cairns' club record five game winning streak and extended their own run to three straight to maintain a hold on the top five.

Cairns - once the laughing stock of the NBL - arrived at the State Sports Centre as the hottest team in the league after notching an impressive collection of high profile scalps including a last round win over No.2 outfit the Hawks in Wollongong.

However, West Sydney was also on a roll, knocking off top three outfits Sydney and Brisbane in the last round.

But the Pigs had been hobbled by the weekend loss of Australian world under 19 gold medalist guard Steve Markovic for up to four weeks with an ankle injury.

But Cairns didn't count on Hinder, who added eight rebounds to his career high points haul while teammate Scott McGregor (19 points) and guard Aaron Trahair (17 points) also helped boost West Sydney's season record to 11-7.

For Cairns (9-8), Timmons had 21 points - but failed to score in the final term - while Thomas had 12 points and 10 rebounds before his ejection and bench regular Aaron Grabau notched 11 points.

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