A tough defeat for the NZ Breakers, who put up a valiant fight but eventually lost 102-89 to the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Melbourne.
Down by 19 points early on the Breakers got back within four thanks to four final quarter three-pointers from Matt Mooney (20 points), but South East Melbourne answered with nine straight points to win by scoring 100-plus points for a ninth straight game.
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The Breakers arrived at the State Basketball Centre playing a fourth game in 11 days and looked out on their legs early with the Phoenix taking full advantage with a 15-2 opening.
That turned into a 30-17 edge by the end of one with 69 per cent shooting with 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 Phoenix 25 points to 11 the rest of the way including a 12-2 run.
That saw South East Melbourne only clinging to the 49-44 lead at the half 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 at 14-10.
Nathan 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.
Tacko Fall had eight points and two rebounds for the now 9-16 Breakers but they did outscore the Phoenix in his 16 minutes while 17-year-old Karim Lopez set a new career high with 20 points on 4/7 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."
The Breakers have six days until being at home to the Brisbane Bullets on Friday night.
South East Melbourne Phoenix 102 (Nathan Sobey 28, Joe Wieskamp 17, Matt Hurt 14)
NZ Breakers 89 (Matt Mooney 20, Karim Lopez 20, Parker Jackson-Cartwright 12).