The Melbourne Tigers out-classed the Townsville Crocodiles 91-66 in a race off the bottom of the ladder at Hisense Arena on Sunday.

The Crocodiles brought tired legs to Melbourne after a physical loss to Cairns on Friday night, allowing the Tigers to take much better care of the ball under minimal pressure compared to previous games.

Melbourne were carried by Adam Ballinger (23 points, 7 rebounds) and Chris Goulding (15 points, 5 assists), with great support from Seth Scott and Lucas Walker (12 points each).

The Crocodiles struggled mightily with only Peter Crawford (15 points, 8 rebounds) and Todd Blanchfield (14 points) providing any real resistance.

Optimistically playing the Black Eyed Peas’ ‘I Got A Feeling’ to start the game, the Tigers took advantage of a red-hot Ballinger, who dropped three first-quarter triples to create an early double-digit lead.

Modestly expressing his joy at sparking his team, Ballinger cited injuries as the reason he hasn’t felt 100 per cent in a long time.

“Hitting those shots early felt really good,” Ballinger said.

“That was the first time I’ve felt good on a basketball court in a long time."

A grumpy Liam Rush helped swing some momentum by throwing Crawford to the floor off the ball, opening the way for a quickly-maturing Blanchfield to find some rhythm.

The Tigers responded with new-found composure, however, picking apart a disgruntled Townsville team that is now 0-7 only one month into the 2012-13 season.

On the way to shooting 54 per cent from the field and out-rebounding the Crocodiles 45-34, the Tigers went into half-time with a comfortable 52-40 lead.

Winning his first game as an NBL coach, Chris Anstey said the win was “clearly the best game of basketball we’ve put together.”

“(For me) it felt the same as my first win as a player,” Anstey said.

“I’m just the one trying to put a system into place… we definitely think there’s another level to go to there.”

The Crocodiles second half was sloppy, absently looking for Gary Ervin (7 points, 3/10 field goals) to bring them back and lacking the energy to stage a promising comeback.

“Just extremely disappointed and frustrated,” Townsville coach Paul Woolpert said.

“I thought we played well at times against Cairns. It’s been a tough schedule but that’s no excuse – this is professional basketball.”

Peter Crawford reiterated that feeling.

“It felt like we shot about four air-balls. When you’re losing it seems like nothing is going right.”

Melbourne capitalised fully to the delight of their crowd, Seth Scott continuing his consistent start to what had been a frustrating season.

Thriving on the space created by Ballinger, Scott dominated the paint with his size and athleticism as the Tigers romped home.

Melbourne Tigers 91 (Ballinger 23, Goulding 15, Scott 12, Walker 12)
Townsville Crocodiles 66 (Crawford 15, Blanchfield 14, Abney 10)

Crowd: 4044 at Hisense Arena, Melbourne