An undersized Brisbane have kept their NBL play-in hopes flickering, felling the New Zealand Breakers in a Christchurch boilover.
The Bullets defied the absence of towering pair Tyrell Harrison and Rocco Zikarsky on Friday, their small-ball unit picking apart the hosts 93-87 in what was a must-win game.
At 229cm, import Tacko Fall (12 points, five rebounds) was five-from-five from the field but didn’t have the decisive impact the Breakers had hoped as they slumped to 9-17.
The result left the race to the NBL’s finals play-in tournament wide open. The Bullets (11-15) drew level with seventh-placed Adelaide (11-13), who play later on Friday night, and are one back from sixth-placed Tasmania (12-13).
Brisbane will host Melbourne on Sunday, before a crunch date in Adelaide and a Cairns clash to complete their regular season.
The Breakers jumped to an immediate 10-point lead but Keandre Cook (26 points, six assists) sunk three triples to give the Bullets a two-point advantage at the first break.
He and Casey Prather (24 points, eight rebounds, four assists) then adjusted their radar, finding joy from mid-range as the Bullets found ways around their height disadvantage.
Breakers guards Parker Jackson-Cartwright (19 points, nine assists) and Matthew Mooney (24 points, four assists) kept things close, with the margin just three at the final break.
But Jackson-Cartwright (rib) checked out early in the final quarter and Brisbane pair Tohi Smith-Milner and Josh Bannan (17 points, seven rebounds) made clutch plays to keep a buffer.
Mooney made both free-throws with 44 seconds left to make it a two-point game.
But Prather was ice-cold, catching the Breakers off guard with a sharp pass to Smith-Milner, who made the tricky floater to reinstate the buffer.
Prather iced the contest with two free throws as his injury-hit side stayed alive.
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