BOXSCORE


The Adelaide 36ers closed out 2011 on a high, notching a 96-77 road win over the Sydney Kings on Friday.

The Sixers seemingly flicked a switch late in the third-quarter, turning a two-point contest on its head with a vicious 17-4 run against Sydney’s bench.

Stephen Weigh (17 points) and Nathan Herbert (14 points) featured heavily during the surge, each connecting on three-pointers as part of a 9-of-27 long-range clip for the visitors.

Daniel Johnson led the way for Adelaide with 21 points and 14 rebounds, while Chris Warren added 13 points.

Julian Khazzouh had 12 points and nine rebounds and Jerai Grant added 10 points and six rebounds for the Kings, who were 0-for-10 from three-point range.

After a tightly-contested opening phase, Adelaide used three consecutive steals to build a sudden six-point buffer midway through the first quarter, before closing with a 23-20 advantage.

Adelaide opened the second with a flurry of threes, quickly opening up an eight-point gap as Herbert posted five consecutive points.

Triples by Everard Bartlett and Warren helped extinguish comeback attempts by the Kings, which included Aaron Bruce's nifty behind-the-back dime to Grant in traffic.

The Kings finally made inroads with a late 6-1 spurt, but were once again stifled when Darren Ng swished an incredible half-court heave on the half-time buzzer to push the lead back to 49-41.

Behind Ben Madgen and Khazzouh, Sydney rallied in the third, pulling within 55-57, but Adelaide rode their mighty 17-4 close to the period to take control of the game at 74-59.

Sydney's woes continued early in the fourth when Khazzouh fouled out, before they suffered a horrific four-minute scoring drought as the Sixers cruised to victory.

Adelaide 36ers 96 (Johnson 21, Weigh 17, Herbert 14)
Sydney Kings 77 (Cooper 13, Bose 12, Khazzouh 12)

Crowd: 6165 at Sydney Entertainment Centre