The Breakers ended a three game losing streak with a 97-94 win over the Perth Wildcats in their Australian NBL game in New Plymouth.
Barry Brown jnr Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Barry Brown junior top scored with 23 points, while Izayah Le'afa had 18 and Rayan Rupert 14.
Perth were ahead by five after the first quarter and just one at half time.
However the Breakers went on a 14-0 run late in the third quarter to go in front and then held onto their lead.
Breakers coach Mody Maor was glad to have a full squad available aside from point guard Will McDowell-White as they try to build some momentum again.
"I think it was a really good game, obviously didn't start the way we wanted and I think we showed a lot of character and grit getting back into it," Maor said.
"It's also nice to have more players on the bench to give momentum when depth has always been one of our strengths, and not having it hurt us a little bit in this stretch.
"It was a phenomenal display of shot making from Perth and I feel we defended it well, but just played against great players who made a lot of tough shots."
Perth coach John Rillie saw a lot to like in the performance, but still left with some areas of frustration.
"New Zealand, they're a playoff team and are well prepared, their coaches get them ready but we got off to a great start," Rillie said.
"We certainly scored enough points to win the game, we just had a loose second quarter that allowed them to get a lot of momentum and go into half-time with some hope.
"I'm obviously emotional right now about the game but we've done a good job this season of taking care of the ball, but we had 18 turnovers.
"So for how good we are offensively when we're in that sort of groove, to have 18 turnovers we're penalising ourselves and the opportunity to score more points.
"I thought New Zealand did a great job of beating us to the 50-50 balls, the one percenter type plays and when you play a close game like that, those things really show up."
The Breakers now have a 12 and 6 record to sit second on the table, two wins behind Sydney.
The Breakers are away to Adelaide on Sunday.
