New Zealand Breakers have broken the Gold Coast Blaze's 10-match unbeaten run at home with a season-defining second-half comeback leading to a 95-81 win at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on Saturday night.
Trailing by seven points at the half-time break, New Zealand, inspired by top-scorer Kevin Braswell (22 points) and guard CJ Bruton (17 points), rallied, nailing countless three-pointers from all around the arc.
Heading into the final quarter with a three-point lead, the Breakers continued their run when Braswell hit two unanswered triples early in the piece.
The Breakers defence lead by Dillon Boucher and Rick Rickert out-muscled the Blaze and coupled with intense defensive pressure Gold Coast could only manage to find the rim in the second half.
Gold Coast's second was a far cry from the first when James Harvey (19 points) and Ayinde Ubaka (15 points) lead from the front with some precision shooting.
Coming off a 21-point loss to Wollongong the Blaze welcomed back Adam Gibson (17 points) into the starting five and he lined up early on Kirk Penney fresh from his 49-point haul against Adelaide.
Gold Coast had the radar set early when Gibson nailed an early three and the home side continued to find the net from long range with Ubaka and Maxey both nailing from outside the paint.
CJ Bruton looked dangerous for the Breakers nailing a triple two after being fouled on the drive. When Ubaka hit his second three Bruton replied with the same as the action moved from end to end.
Coming off his huge haul against Adelaide, Kirk Penney was kept quiet by Harvey and Gibson managing just two for the quarter.
A late mistake by Chris Goulding on the half-way line left the ball spill to Braswell who drove home drawing the foul and making the three-point play from the free-throw line.
Ubaka top scored for the Blaze in the first quarter with ten points giving his side a three point lead heading into the second.
After quiet start James Harvey started to get his engine going in the second when he struck from outside the arc but his effort was equally matched by Braswell who returned fire for the visitors.
Veteran Tony Ronaldson levelled the match at 34 apiece with a nicely weighted triple and put the visitors in front a short time later.
Harvey then secured a rare four point play for the Blaze when he was fouled by Penney on the fade-away and stepped up to the line making no mistake. Penney was kept scoreless by the Blaze defence who refused to give him an inch of the floor in the second.
Top scoring with 14 for the quarter Harvey's influence made sure the Blaze extended its lead going into the major break 51-44.
Penney finally found his feet shooting a three for the Breakers two minutes into the third and in a battle to see who could keep the long range shoot-out going Maxey opened up but his effort was swiftly replied by Bruton who drew the Blaze in with the scores sitting at 57-53.
With Gold Coast unable to make any heading on the scoreboard Bruton put New Zealand in front with three minutes to go, his shot to find three looked like it was guided by GPS.
With the Blaze trailing 60-63 Ubaka levelled with 40 seconds to go but with Braswell hitting one from the