The Sydney Kings defeated the Townsville Crocodiles 92-87 in Townsville on Friday.

The Crocs mounted a spirited fightback in the final term to cut a 17-point deficit to three in little more than four minutes, but they could not execute on the crucial final play.

It wasn't all smooth sailing for the Kings either, with guard Corin Henry landing hard on his knee with just two minutes remaining before limping off the floor.

Sydney's best was Aaron Bruce with 25 points at 77 per cent from the field, and he received ample support from Ben Madgen (23 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists) and Henry (18 points).

For the Crocs, Gary Ervin (16 points), Ben Allen (14), Peter Crawford (12) and Jacob Holmes (10) all scored in double figures.

Shane Heal said the final-term fade-out was a "disappointing way to finish such a positive game".

“We had such a bad game last week and it took a lot of character to fight back today with the sort of effort levels we provided and the defence in the first three quarters,” he said.

“We have to watch that tape and our decision making has to be better at the end of the game when the pressure is going to be on.”

Both teams were misfiring early but some good interior movement by Allen created an easy two under the basket to get the home team going.

A Michael Cedar three-pointer with 20 seconds left in the first quarter ensured his team went into the break up 22-18.

But Bruce and Madgen took over the game, along with exciting cameos from Henry, as the Kings out-scored the Crocs 45-33 across the middle two quarters.

One of the highlights for Townsville was a buzzer-beating triple from Jacob Holmes at half-time.

Sydney continued to roll in the final term, taking their lead to 17 with under five minutes to play before the dazzling Crawford and Ervin-inspired run brought Townsville within striking distance.

When Crawford nailed his third triple and Mitch Norton stole the ball after pressuring the inbounds, scored and drew a foul on Bruce the margin was just three and the once-dormant crowd firing.

Norton missed the free throw but Crawford recovered the board via a jump-ball, only for the Crocs to lose control when they had a chance to force overtime.

Sydney's Tom Garlepp then finished the game in style with a jam and the Kings players celebrated what was a crucial road win.

The Crocs also had a play in the final seconds last Friday night in New Zealand and also turned the ball over without attempting a shot.

Coach Paul Woolpert said he needed to review the tape to see what went wrong.

“Tonight we ran a play we were very familiar with,” he said.

“We ran a play for PC (Crawford) in the corner and Gary had an angle to make the pass. I don’t know whether it was deflected or not.

“Defensively, which is normally our strength, we were poor tonight.”

Sydney Kings 92 (Bruce 25, Madgen 23, Henry 18)
Townsville Crocodiles 87 (Ervin 16, Allen 14, Crawford 12, Holmes 10)

Crowd: 3294 at Townsville Entertainment Centre