The Ayinde Ubaka and Ron Dorsey show stormed into Perth to lead the Cairns Taipans to an upset 72-64 Australian National Basketball League win over the Wildcats at Challenge Stadium on Sunday.
The victory for Cairns was the first time the defending champion Wildcats have lost at home since going down to the Adelaide 36ers on in December last year and confirmed the Taipans as a genuine title contenders.
Ubaka showed last season at Gold Coast how good he could be as an MVP candidate before going down injured late in the campaign and missing the playoffs.
He ran the ship superbly in Perth finishing with 18 points and six assists while combining well with fellow import Dorsey.
Dorsey hit two massive dunks and finished with 13 points while Dusty Rychart scored 14 and pulled in seven rebounds, Alex Loughton scored eight as did Daniel Dillon and Phill Jones hit seven.
The Wildcats (5-4) remain home now for the next three Sundays to play the Townsville Crocs, Melbourne Tigers and Sydney Kings, while Cairns (5-2) hosts Wollongong on Saturday night before taking on New Zealand in Auckland on Thursday.
