Only percentage is keeping the Gold Coast Blaze from the top of the NBL ladder after they came from 11 points down to overhaul the Adelaide 36ers 104-89 in an entertaining match at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on Friday night.
With its floor leader Adam Gibson nursing a corked quadriceps, the home side struggled to get into gear, but once it did late in the first half it was all one-way traffic.
Adelaide came with a good game plan to pester Ayinde Ubaka and look to the post for scoring but had no answer as the Blaze began to fire.
Chris Goulding was outstanding in his second NBL start, registering 16 points including four makes from downtown as he shared the ball handling duties.
But more than his points tally, it was blocks, steals, deft passes and charges drawn which got the raucous crowd and his team going.
Erron Maxey provided great support tallying 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting in a tradesman like display.
His haul included a two-handed baseline dunk midway through the third.
Adam Ballinger top-scored with 19 for the visitors but only three of those came after half-time when Maxey was assigned to neutralise the big man.
The match almost boiled over as tempers flared in the final minute with Anthony Petrie and Ballinger coming together for a push and shove after battling hard in the paint.
Darren Ng had a good night personally shooting 7-of-8 for the visitors and James Harvey finished top-scorer with 23 for the Blaze after putting on a shooting clinic once the result was in the bag.
Petrie had another productive game in the middle collecting 13 points, 12 boards and a couple of blocks.
Without Gibson, the Blaze started tentatively, bombing away from the outside before settling into a rhythm.
Goulding nailed one big triple from the wing but when Cortez Groves hit straight back it was obvious the visitors were not going to concede an inch.
Nathan Herbert started for Adelaide and splashed two early triples on his way to nine first-quarter points.
Craig Bradshaw also had nine in the first term courtesy of a tip-in, a post move, a trip to the line and a surprise triple.
The Blaze were only just holding on with Adelaide attacking from all angles and shooting at more than 70 percent.
When Petrie had a rest, Ballinger struck with six quick points to ensure Adelaide closed the first term with a 31-22 lead.
Adelaide opened the second term plucky and when Ng double-pumped a three it looked as though the luck was only going one way.
Those thoughts were franked when Bradshaw was blocked under the rim by Gilchrist from behind and the Sixers ran the floor to get an easy lay-up for Ng on a similar play.
Adelaide led by 11 with three minutes to play in the half when Ubaka went to his bag of party tricks to ignite a home-team run.
After collapsing Adelaide's defence with a pair of scything drives to the hoop, the flashy point guard head earned his shooters some room.
Mika Vukona made a basket and then scooped a pass for Petire to lay in as Gold Coast went on a 13-2 run to close the quarter.
Goulding tied the scores at 50 with a long jump-shot before Dave Cooper got on the end of an alley-oop as the buzzer sounded to send Adeliade to the major break up by two.
But Gold Coast had a sail full of wind.
And as has been the case throughout the season the free-running Blaze came out hot in the third term to put the Sixers away.
The red-hot Blaze (13-8) travel to Wollongong to take on the Hawks on Saturday while the Sixers (10-12) will look to get back on the winners list in Melbourne.
Gold Coast Blaze 104 (Harvey 23, Ubaka 21, Maxey 16)
'Hood Sweeney' Adelaide 36ers 89 (Ballinger 19, Ng 17, Burston 12)
@ Gold Coast Convention Centre, 15/01/10. Crowd: 3,674
