Bitter finish for Mackay Meteors after an unexpected loss

Basketball: The blemish on the Mackay McDonald's Meteors nearly spotless record soon became a sore when the Cairns Marlins claimed their second win against the home team and knocked them out of the QBL finals.

In traditional fashion the odds favoured the Meteors, who racked up an 18 point lead during the third quarter, but a flurry of shots by the Marlins had the Meteors on the back foot for the final minutes of the game.

A panicked Meteors unit favoured pot shots in the last quarter, resulting in an ample supply of rebounds for the fish to take advantage of, ending in a 96-99 score difference that kept fans praying until the last seconds.

The surprise loss to the Marlins when the teams met in round 10 was pinned on a lack of drive from the minor-premiers, but playing coach Cameron Tragardh had nothing but praise for the opposition after Saturday night's nail-biting epic.

"Credit to them, they didn't quit and showed a lot of resolve, and unfortunately our Achilles' heel kinda bit us,” he said.

"It was a hell of a game... that's the show of a good team and culture, you don't quit, when you get punched in the face you dust off and get back in the game and we can do that too, we've done that many times this year, but our problem was probably getting to comfortable at the other end of it.”

Tragardh said his squad have battled with a lack of discipline through the whole season which finally caught them "when it counted”.

"We had plenty of opportunities... it's been the Achilles heel for us all year and I was worried it would bite us, just our ability to close games, to get a team down and keep the foot on the throat,” he said.

"We had guys taking possessions off in defence, possessions off in offence, where we don't lead hard and they (Marlins) make some shots and got back in the game.

"It's just disappointing when we get up big that we can't kick on, we must have done that half a dozen times this year.

"We looked nice out in front in first, but there were a few games we dropped and a few we just survived, it's disappointing we couldn't get past that and learn from that, it's probably the only thing we didn't learn all year, how to close a game when we get up big.”

The impact was not lost on Tragardh who assured the upset would be a learning point for the team that they will carry into their next "journey”.

Cairns will move onto the finals against Townsville next week after the Heat eliminated the Brisbane Capitals 90-85.

"We wish them all the luck to go on and take it out,” Tragardh said.