A CONTROVERSIAL foul call on the buzzer has handed the South Dragons an 82-80 win over the Taipans in their final NBL game of the season.

The game between the Dragons, the high-flying minor premiers, and the embattled Taipans came down to the wire, with the Snakes fighting back three times in the final minutes to tie things up.

Gary Boodnikoff's three 20 seconds from time tied scores at 80-80 and the game seemed headed for overtime when the Dragons seemed not to have got a shot off in the final, frantic seconds.

But officials called a foul on Boodnikoff - the Taipans' fifth team foul of the period - with Dragon Donta Smith heading to the free-throw line where he converted both attempts to seal the win for the visitors.

The call drew the ire of the crowd and while the officials congregated to discuss the decision and checked with the score bench to determine whether the game clock had run down before the call was made, the foul stood.

Several infuriated fans reacted poorly immediately after the match, several throwing objects onto the court and at officials, but that was soon overcome by the overwhelming desire of most present to show their appreciation for the way the Taipans finished out the season.

Head coach Mark Beecroft took the floor to thank a raft of people from players and fans, to former owners, staff, game night officials, players` families and founation members of the new Taipans.

The Save the Taipans group elected a board at a pre-match meeting and will lodge paperwork on Monday to form an incorporated body, Cairns Taipans Basketball.

"I thought we ran out of time (in the game before the foul was called)," Beecroft said after the match.

"It's hard to hear, obviously at times - that (crowd support) is a great thing for us. They could have got it right. I don't know."

Dragons coach Brian Goorjian said there had been "so much emotion" in the gym he knew the Taipans players would never give up the fight despite trailing by 15 points at one stage in the third quarter.

"They were just going to fight it out, fight it out and really put themselves in a pretty damn good position from being in a diabolical position to win the game," he said.

"In all honesty I was disappointed in how the game finished.

"It might have been a great night to have an overtime.

"I didn't feel great about what we were getting (from the referees) over the course of the night and I'm sure they (Taipans) didn't.

"Arms flew. There was a hit. I knew there was enough time left (but) you hate to see a situation, especially a game like tonight where the ref (decides it)."

The Dragons went into the match without injured centre Matt Burston and rested forward Mark Worthington, while the Taipans were once again without Scott Cook.

The first quarter was a see-sawing affair, Kerry Williams making sure the Taipans stayed in touch when he converted a pair of free-throws in the final seconds, with the Dragons heading to quarter-time leading 15-14.

The margin was the same at halftime, although the Dragons only led after a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Adam Gibson.

Baskets were hard to come by for both teams, with more than two-and-a-half minutes going by at one stage without a score being posted by either side.

Aaron Grabau played little part in the second quarter after picking three fouls in a minute early in the term, spending most of the period on the bench.

Both teams shot woefully in the first half, the Dragons managing just over 30 per cent from the field while the Taipans were worse, their 11-of-39 from the field leaving them with a 28 per cent return.

The exception was Dragons import Tremell Darden who had eight points  for the term to rack up a double-double 10 points and 10 rebounds by halftime.

The Dragons opened the third with a 17-6 run that pushed them to a double-digit lead by the middle of the term.

They pushed the margin out to as much as 15 before the Taipans finished with an 11-4 run to cut the margin to six at the final break.

Swingman Joe Ingles was superb, firing 15 points in the quarter, including three long-range threes.

The Dragons held on to their lead early but the Taipans refused to give in and levelled the scores at 70-70 with just over four-and-a-half minutes remaining.

Consecutive baskets from Donta Smith gave the Dragons a five-point lead but the gap closed again when Ian Crosswhite`s bucket locked things up at 77-77 with 90 seconds remaining.

Things only got more exciting, the teams trading threes to tie things up again 20 seconds from time.

The match seemed headed for overtime when the Dragons seemed to run out of time before getting a shot off before the fulltime buzzer but a controversial foul was called on Gary Boodnikoff, sending Smith to the line for a pair of free-throws which he converted to hand the Dragons an 82-80 win.

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