KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand Breakers' playoff charge stalled in Townsville as the Adelaide 36ers loom as a threat to their spot in the Australian National Basketball League's top eight.
A 108-88 defeat to the Crocodiles before 4500 baying fans at The Swamp left the Breakers eighth on points differential, just behind Gold Coast who were dealt a 33-point hammering in Auckland 48 hours earlier.
The 36ers raced into calculations by upsetting runaway leaders Sydney 115-93, improving their win-loss record to 10-11.
Amid a logjam of top-eight playoff contenders, Perth Wildcats sit fourth with only a marginally better record of 12-9, just ahead of Cairns, Townsville, Gold Coast and the Breakers.
A sleepy start and the costly absence of key forward Tony Ronaldson with an ankle injury sank the Breakers on Saturday night.
"We came out flat in the first quarter and we gave up nine uncontested shots early and they got to the rim too easy on us and we just kept giving them the ball back," coach Andrej Lemanis said.
"I think we averaged 13 turnovers as a team for the game so that was an issue for us but I thought we did a good job of fighting our way back into the game."
Tall Black Kirk Penney continued his purple patch of form, leading the way with 26 points for the visitors while American imports Orien Greene (20 points) and Derrick Alston (18) made valuable contributions.
A Phill Jones' three-pointer on the buzzer had the Breakers in touch at 55-49 down at halftime, and they made their run in the third quarter.
Three consecutive foul shots from Penney closed the margin to 65-64 with 5min 40sec left in the quarter, but the hosts extended the lead again to 77-69 entering the final period.
With nine minutes remaining the Breakers were still in touch, 10 points down, but the Crocodiles' John Rillie killed off any hopes of a late charge with consecutive three-pointers in the space of 20 seconds.
Another tough one looms for the Breakers in the next round - a visit to Melbourne to face the second-placed Tigers - before a home match they should win against West Sydney Razorbacks on January 24.
* The Christchurch Sirens' woes on the road continued with a 90-74 loss to Bulleen Melbourne in their Australian Women's National Basketball League match in Melbourne.
It was the Sirens' 12th loss from 18 matches in their debut season.
- NZPA
