It was a must-win game in terms of the Nuggets' NBL season – they sit seventh in the league – in front of 1700 fans at the Edgar Centre.
Arguably the Nuggets were the better side early, but lapses in defence and connections and the inability to make shots count when needed cost them.
Kimani Lawrence was fouled out of the game with 41sec on the clock, adding to the Nuggets' woes.
It was a disappointing end after having led at every break while the Whai struggled to get on the board early on.
The Whai, who were two from 25 from deep, outscored the Nuggets 18-8 in the final quarter and that really summed it up.
But it was the Nuggets who started well.
Lawrence put up a nice jumper and fellow import Zaccheus Darko-Kelly followed soon after.
Matt Bardsley came into the starting five and looked classy from the start.
He was in the thick of everything and drove aggressively at the hoop, nailing the shot and drawing a foul for a three-point play.
That helped the Nuggets edge in front where they stayed for most of the opener.
Jayden Bezzant drained a nice step-back shot to trail by on point, but the Nuggets fired back immediately.
Josh Aitcheson’s three went begging, but big Jack Andrew secured the rebound, flicked it back in to Aitcheson who finished a nice lay-up to give the Nuggets a 21-18 lead on the buzzer.
Darko-Kelly bagged a couple of triples in the second, and the combination between Lawrence and Bardsley to find the hoop was humming.
It helped the Nuggets jump out to a 10-point lead.
Andrew, under immense pressure, got around three players in the paint to find the hoop and made it a three-point play.
While the Whai closed the gap somewhat, they still struggled to make it count.
Kruz Perrot-Hunt had a nice jumper, but the Whai struggled from beyond the arch and the Nuggets led 36-28 at halftime.
The Nuggets left big holes in the paint to start the third, with Perrot-Hunt and Bezzant finding their way to the hoop too easy.
At the other end, Darko-Kelly drained his third triple and Lawrence dished off a nice ball in the paint that Andrew finished off with a dunk.
But the Whai arguably had the better of the opener of the third.
Shots finally started to land for the visitors, who closed the gap to three initially.
Phil Carr nailed his two from the free-throw line to make it a one-point game.
Aitcheson banged down a deep three and had a huge block on Jett Thompson’s shot late in the quarter.
With a couple of seconds left on the clock, the Nuggets called a player time-out – and it paid off.
Caleb Smiler flung the ball in to Darko-Kelly, who glided to the hoop and gave the Nuggets a 51-48 lead at the break.
Perrot-Hunt nailed two shots early in the second to give the Whai a 54-51 lead, but nothing fell for the Nuggets.
But he then coughed up a blocking foul against Kimani Lawrence, who finished the three-point play.
But the Nuggets coughed up so much ball in the dying minutes it cost them the game.
