KEY POINTS:
Breakers 116
Adelaide 36ers 109
The Breakers will head on their three-match road trip buoyed by a morale-boosting second victory after seeing off Adelaide at the North Shore Events centre last night.
The Breakers now head to Singapore for their first away assignment of the season and they will do so with their season record at 2-2 thanks largely to towering display from import Rick Rickert and a fourth quarter explosion by Tall Black veteran Phill Jones.
Rickert topped all scorers with 30 and he was ably assisted by Australian veteran Tony Ronaldson, who chipped in with 19 points in what was his best performance in a Breakers' shirt.
The first quarter was a seesaw affair but the 36ers eventually edged it with back-to-back three-pointers in the final minute.
The Breakers spent much of the first half getting the ball inside to the effective Rickert.
A sluggish start to the second quarter by the Breakers allowed the 36ers to stretch their lead to 10. Brett Maher was hot from distance for the visitors, nailing four of his five three point attempts to lead his team with 14 first half points. But Ronaldson finally ended his barren run from beyond the arc with two second-quarter threes and Rickert continued to dominate in the paint, ending the first half with 18 points and four rebounds as the Breakers cut the deficit to two at halftime.
An Oscar Forman three straight after the restart put the Breakers ahead and Ronaldson and Kirk Penney nailed consecutive threes to continue the momentum swing before Penney executed a brilliant set play from a time-out to keep his side two in front at three-quarter time.
A nine-point swing to start the final quarter put the 36ers in the driving seat. But Jones got hot at the right time with four consecutive free throws and a long bomb to single-handedly overturn the seven-point deficit before Ronaldson put the Breakers ahead again with four minutes remaining.
Rickert ended the night with 10 rebounds to post his fourth consecutive double-double for the club.
