Undermanned NZ Breakers have crashed to their third straight defeat of the Australian NBL season, squandering a 19-point first-half lead to fall 98-85 to Adelaide 36ers at Adelaide.
Playing without injured American imports Jeremiah Martin and Peyton Siva - as well as captain Tom Abercrombie - the Auckland side seemed to have put the disappointment of opening losses to South East Melbourne behind them, shooting a blistering 11/19 from beyond the arc over the opening 20 minutes.
Guards Hugo Bosson and William McDowell-White picked up the scoring slack, the Frenchman slotting five three-pointers and the Aussie a perfect eight-from-eight from the field, as they contributed 19 points apiece before halftime.
But momentum swung dramatically back towards the home team after the restart, with the Sixers outscoring their guests 56-26 over the final two quarters to claim their comeback victory.
McDowell-White (27 points) and Besson (25 points) could add only 14 more between them, while Tall Blacks star Finn Delany was held to just four points for the entire game. The Breakers also received little help from their bench unit, which was outscored 24-5 by their counterparts.
American Dusty Hannahs led Adelaide's scoring with 25 points, while veteran centre Daniel Johnson had 22 points, including a pair of late three-pointers that finally broke the Breakers' resistance.
The NZ side will now seek their first win of the season against Illawarra Hawks on Friday.
