They churned through 20 more sets of defence against the NRL's form team, who needed a last-gasp field goal to get the job done.
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And while the pain of Canberra's 21-20 loss to North Queensland will take time to subside for the players, Raiders prop David Shillington said he's proud of the "fight" the young side showed.
Led by rampant halfback Johnathan Thurston, the Cowboys have the arsenal to put a big score on any team, and enjoyed nearly 60 per cent of possession against the Raiders.
Canberra made 409 tackles to the Cowboys' 285, but showed resilience which has been missing in previous years.
Despite the huge extra workload, the Raiders only missed 26 tackles, one less than their season average.
The effort came to nought, Raiders players slumping to the turn in agony after yet another match they can consider themselves unlucky to lose.
"They came out firing and we had to weather the storm, the boys showed some pretty good resilience," Shillington said.
"That's their 11th win in a row and they were never going to be a walkover, I was proud of the fight the boys had.
"It was a big day for our defence and the boys showed a lot of effort and character."
Raiders skipper Jarrod Croker said "my boys didn't deserve that" after one of the best-quality matches of the year.
Canberra now has a miserable 1-6 record at home this year, but have won five of seven on the road to stay in the finals hunt.
"You talk about keeping their heads up because they [young players] would have learned a lot out of that, how to grind out games and hang in there," Shillington said.
There was a couple of [Cowboys] tries where I said we had to grind it out and weather the storm and hang in there, keep making our tackles and wait for it to turn.
"There's no denying you want to win and get the two points, there's no hiding that.
"Hopefully it's a good learning curve into hanging in games and playing tough."
The result only makes Saturday's trip to Auckland to face the Warriors more important, and the Raiders [6-8] have slipped out of the top eight.
"It's been quite tough, especially the results at home," Raiders back rower Sia Soliola said.
"We really want to make it a fortress and we just can't get the rub of the green at the moment."
NRL ROUND 16
Saturday: New Zealand Warriors v Canberra Raiders at Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, 3pm.
TV: Live on Fox Sports 1.
