The Adelaide 36ers have continued their NBL hot streak, extending their winning run to three-in-a-row by defeating the Sydney Kings 89-79.
A commanding 49-37 first half and a clinical finish, after the Kings had trimmed the margin to a single point, paved the way for the Sixers' victory in front of 9466 fans at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Friday night.
Adelaide's big four all played significant roles.
Dejan Vasiljevic poured in 26 points, including 18 in a tone-setting first half, while Kendric Davis had 19.
In the front court, Montrezl Harrell produced an 18-point, 14-rebound double-double, while centre Isaac Humphries swatted four blocks to go with 14 points and eight boards.
"Our defence allowed us to stay afloat when all of a sudden we were really out of sync offensively," 36ers coach Mike Wells said.
"Then once we got a bit of rhythm back offensively, we could get our hands around the lead again."
Import Cameron Oliver (16 points) came off the bench to lead Sydney's rearguard.
Sydney lost Jaylen Adams in the third term with a lower back complaint, while captain Xavier Cooks was below his best while battling flu symptoms.
The visitors skipped out of the blocks 8-0 before ex-King Vasiljevic got Adelaide belatedly moving, scoring 12 points in seven minutes to help the SIxers to a 26-22 quarter-time advantage.
Vasiljevic remained in the thick of the action in the second term, whether he was draining threes, grabbing rebounds or conceding a technical foul for throwing the ball at Sydney forward Keli Leaupepe.
Meanwhile, the Kings went ice-cold offensively, misfiring at 22 per cent from the floor and beyond the arc for the quarter and being out-rebounded 29-21 to trail by 12 points at halftime.
Sydney started the third period by coughing up three turnovers in as many minutes and paid for it as Davis and Humphries swelled the 36ers' advantage to 65-49.
But the Sixers then went off the boil and Sydney's bench unit, led by Oliver, capitalised, trimming the gap to six points at three quarter time.
Adelaide's horror patch continued when Sunday Dech's inbound to start the fourth term was picked off by Maluach, who converted his steal, then followed with a three-pointer to cap an 18-3 Kings burst to suddenly trim the 36ers' lead to 68-67.
Nick Marshall's floater ended the rut for the Sixers, who soon got rolling again, Humphries shot-blocking and a couple of massive Harrell dunks down the stretch warding off Sydney's challenge.
"I thought our job on DJ (Vasiljevic) was horrendous and both their bigs had their way," Kings coach Brian Goorjian said.
"At the offensive end, the ball didn't move - it stuck. We didn't get the ball from side to side and really showed no signs of a step forward."