A storming final quarter from New Zealand Breakers saw the defending champions swamp Adelaide 36ers 73-59 in Auckland.
Almost anonymous in last week's lacklustre 93-72 opening loss to Perth Wildcats, young centre Alex Pledger lifted to feature all across the court.
Only Cedric Jackson outscored him with 17, while almost as valuable as Pledger's 15 points was his superb effort in picking up 10 rebounds and limiting Luke Schenscher to two points for the encounter.
While the Breakers lifted noticeably from last week's opener, they struggled until the last quarter of a tight defensive game.
They pressured the 36ers through the court early on, bringing more intensity on defence to out-rebound the visitors 28 to 14 in the first half.
Breakers import recruit Will Hudson was particularly effective on the offensive boards, and picked up nine rebounds overall to go with his nine points.
The 36ers' fast-break game, so efficient last week in their 84-61 first-up win over Melbourne Tigers, was not running smoothly and the Breakers went into the half-time break with a useful 36-29 lead.
But the 36ers fought back to take the third quarter 18-10 and lead 47-46 going into the last spell.
The Breakers kept cool and three final-quarter three-pointers from Jackson catapulted them back in front, as the hosts finally found their rhythm to take out the final quarter 27-12.
For the 36ers, Daniel Johnson top-scored with 15 points, backed up with solid efforts from Anthony Petrie's 13 and Adam Gibson's 12.
In other results, the Kings upset Melbourne Tigers 85-82 in Sydney and Wollongong Hawks downed the Taipans 68-58 in Cairns.
AAP
Tags: basketball, nbl, sport, new-zealand First posted October 12, 2012 20:31:11
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