The South East Melbourne Phoenix could never quite put the New Zealand Breakers away despite an early 19-point lead but did enough on return to Melbourne to claim a 102-89 NBL win.
It was a first game in Melbourne for the Phoenix in almost a month and they kept their strong form going, making it nine wins in their last 11 games.
New Zealand got back within four points thanks to four final-quarter three-pointers from Matt Mooney (20 points), but the Phoenix answered with nine straight points to win, scoring 100-plus points for a ninth straight game.
The Breakers arrived at the State Basketball Centre on Saturday playing their fourth game in 11 days and looked out on their legs early as the up tempo Phoenix took full advantage with a 15-2 opening.
That turned into a 30-17 edge by the end of one quarter with 69 per cent shooting and 10 points off five New Zealand turnovers, and then the Phoenix stole it a couple more times to start the second term.
Nathan Sobey pushed South East Melbourne out to a 19-point lead, but the Breakers outscored the hosts 25-11 for the rest of the quarter including a 12-2 run.
That left South East Melbourne clinging to a 49-44 lead at halftime before hitting the last eight points of the third quarter to be up 11 heading into the fourth.
A late South East Melbourne 9-0 run secured the win by 13 to move them to fourth on the ladder with a 14-10 record.
Sobey finished with 28 points and nine assists with Joe Wieskamp adding 17 points and four rebounds, Matt Hurt 14 points and eight boards, Owen Foxwell 12 points, Angus Glover 11 points and four assists, and Jordan Hunter 10 points and eight rebounds.
"I'm super proud of my team and there's 40 minutes in this game and we led for 39:38 of it against a team that's finally healthy and is very talented," coach Josh King said.
"I'm happy with this win, really proud of the team and after they made their run, we stuck together and made some big shots in the fourth quarter."
Tacko Fall had just eight points and two rebounds for the Breakers (9-16) but they did outscore the Phoenix in his 16 minutes on court while 17-year-old Karim Lopez set a new career high with 20 points on 4-of-7 three-point shooting.
Breakers coach Petteri Koponen did think it was another game his team had their chances to come back and snatch.
"I think we came out flat and mentally we weren't there," he said.
"It was about concentration and focus, and we were not executing but then we showed character to fight back against a really good basketball team.
"It's frustrating because we had the chance to take this game but to beat these top teams we really need to play 40 minutes."
