NZ Breakers have let another late lead slip away, falling to their eighth loss of the season, 90-79 to South East Melbourne Phoenix.
After defeat Adelaide 36ers midweek, the Auckland side blew another chance for back-to-back wins for the first time this Australian NBL campaign.
They led by as many as seven points late in the second quarter and threatened to bust the game wide open in the third, when they opened and lost margins of six and five. The Breakers still led 69-68 with 7m 45s remaining, but conceded the next seven points to lose their grasp.
Only four points behind, they slipped further behind, when American guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright fouled Ben Ayre outside the arc, with the Phoenix guard converting all three free throws.
Any hope of a last-gasp comeback was quashed in the final minute, when Matt Kenyon hit a corner three-pointer to put the margin into double figures.
The Breakers had little answer to Aussie star Mitch Creek, who led all scorers with 26 points, including 10/15 from the field. Phoenix dominated in the paint, where they outscored their rivals 46-34, and were sent to the line almost twice as often, shooting 19/25, compared to 12/14.
Breakers guard Izayah Le'afa continued his hot shooting from the Adelaide win, leading his team with 17 points, but Americans Jackson-Cartwright and Anthony Lamb were kept relatively quiet, with 14 points each.
Last season's beaten finalists have now led or been level with their opponents in the fourth quarter of six of their eight defeats during the current campaign.
They now have four wins from 12 games, head of just Adelaide and Illawarra on the competition table, and return home to hos Tasmania JackJumpers at Auckland's Spark Arena next Saturday.
South East Melbourne Phoenix 90 (Creek 26, Cummings 15, Browne 12) NZ Breakers 79 (Le'afa 17, Jackson-Cartwright 14, Lamb 14)
