The Bullets must now beat New Zealand in the final round and hope Adelaide loses to both Melbourne and Perth in order to sneak into fourth position.

The Taipans, farewelling club champion and skipper Alex Loughton, led by as much as 15 points in the third term, but had to slog it out in the final quarter to win.

Brisbane drew within two points at one stage and looked like overrunning the wooden spooners, but couldn't finish the job.

Point-scoring machine Melo Trimble was kept relatively quiet, finishing with 23 points after a scoreless opening term.

The retiring Loughton had 11 points in front of 5,000 adoring fans at a packed Cairns Convention Centre.

He scored the match-winning points in the last minute of the game for a hero's reception.

The 35-year-old is the second most capped player in the club's history and played in both of the Taipans' grand final campaigns.

"It was a great way to finish," Loughton said post-match.

"The club have been excellent ... all I wanted was to be able to address the crowd after the game on the microphone and that was awesome."

The Bullets were led by Americans Jeremy Kendle (17) and Lamar Patterson (16) but did not get enough support from their starters, particularly Cam Gliddon and Cam Bairstow, who had a combined five points.

Brisbane coach Andrej Lemanis said he was disappointed in the performance, but not the effort.

"I thought we were a little bit anxious," he said.

"We opened with a three and then went the next five minutes without scoring."

Lemanis said he did not know why the Bullets had a poor record against Cairns, having lost three times to the bottom-placed side.

Had the Bullets won those matches, they would have likely secured a home final.

Instead, they sweat on the performances of Adelaide against Melbourne on Sunday and Perth next Friday night.

The Bullets will know their situation when they host the New Zealand Breakers next Saturday.

Australian Associated Press