Despite splitting their first four games (2-2), all on the road, the Cubs came out of the blocks slow at the Tigers Den - trialling by as many as 14 midway through the first quarter.

But the Tigers fought back to only be behind 21-14 at the first break.

The play of Scott Balsar's Tigers continued in the second quarter, as they hit the front for the first time (30-29) with just over three minutes to play in the term.

But a couple of late baskets by the visitors saw them go into half-time up 35-32.

The third quarter was another tight affair but the Cubs managed to score the last six points of the period to go into three-quarter time up 52-49.

The final quarter belonged to the hosts, who stretched their lead to eight with two minutes remaining - before they held their nerve to win 73-68, to take their record to 3-2 on the season.

In the win, Lachlan Armstrong top scored with 20 points, as both Riley O'Shannessy and Luke Smith chipped in with 10.

"We couldn't buy a basket in the early stages while they were hitting most of their shots, which saw us fall behind early," coach Balsar said.

"But after I had some choice words in my first time-out, all the boys refocused and we came back out and went on an 8-0 run - it was as if I'd flicked the switch back on.

"We need to fix these slow starts, because it'll cost us against the tops teams."

While happy with the win, Balsar knows there are some serious areas of improvement needed.

"Rebounding, on both the offensive and defensive ends, has been our achilles heel so far," he said.

"Everyone needs to find their man, put a body on them and not let them get two or three chances to score.

"Once we secure the ball, we can get back to our 'bread and butter' of running the break, which was our main strength last season."

Next up for the Cubs are the Illawarra Hawks at the Snakepit from 6pm Saturday.