Sydney consolidated top spot on the NBL ladder while the Taipans's finals hopes all but disappeared after an undermanned Kings reigned 105-76 in Cairns.

Despite imports Rolan Roberts and Mark Sanford fouling out with nine minutes left, the Kings went on to claim the win and move to a ladder-leading 15-7 record.

The news was not so good for Cairns which now seems to only have a mathematical chance of a play-off berth with a 8-15 record.

The Kings recovered from a 123-116 loss to Townsville on Friday night.

Sydney took control in the second quarter on the back of an eight-point burst from injured guard CJ Bruton which handed the reigning NBL champs a decisive 56-45 halftime lead.

The Kings established a game winning 20-point lead in the third despite having bigs Ben Knight, Roberts and Sanford forced to the bench with five fouls each.

But Sydney battled a 23-14 foul count to lead 82-62 at the final change.

Roberts (seven points, five boards) and Sanford (14pts, four boards) fouled out within 30 seconds of each other with nine minutes left in the match.

Knight and Bruton led all scorers with 20 points each and Luke Martin had 15 among six Kings in double figures.

For Cairns, import big man Chris Burgess had 16 points and Melvin Thomas 14 points.

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