New Zealand coach Gordie Herbert has slammed his team's first half as "absolutely pathetic" after brilliant Bryce Cotton helped the Adelaide 36ers catapult to fifth place on the NBL ladder with a hard-fought 108-101 win over the Breakers.
Cotton scored 13 of his game-high 31 points in the fourth quarter at Auckland's Spark Arena on Friday night, while also dishing six assists.
After the two teams went bucket for bucket down the stretch, Cotton put an end to that trend with back-to-back three-pointers in the space of 26 seconds, before John Jenkins and Keanu Rasmussen finished the Breakers off.
Sharpshooting Jenkins poured in 21 points off the bench for the Sixers, while import bigs Nick Rakocevic and Zylan Cheatham added 17 each.
Sam Mennenga scored 28 points for NZ, Carlin Davison dazzled with 16 points and 11 assists, and Charles Bediako paired 16 points with five blocks.
All three stood tall in the second half, but the Breakers' approach in the opening two terms earned the ire of Herbert.
"I was really disappointed with our effort - the first half was pathetic," he said.
"It was probably the most pathetic 20 minutes we've played this season.
"No fight, no will, no energy, no togetherness - absolutely pathetic."
Behind Cotton's 10-point opening term, Adelaide held sway 28-24 at the first break, before they got right on top of the Breakers in the second period.
Davison produced the highlight of the game in the shadows of halftime, soaring for a magnificent alley-oop slam via a Mojave King lob.
But otherwise the Sixers picked holes in NZ's defence with aplomb to march ahead 56-44 at the half.
Adelaide's buffer was out to 14 early in the third quarter before the Breakers rallied, sparked by another sensational Davison slam, this time dunking on Jacob Rigoni's head.
With Bediako proving a defensive menace in the paint, NZ trimmed the gap to 74-72 at three-quarter time, before pinching the lead early in the fourth when Dejan Vasiljevic followed a left-handed lay-up with a free throw after 36ers coach Trevor Gleeson was whistled for a technical foul.
The lead changed hands 12 times in a pulsating fourth term before Cotton called game.
"It was really good for us to come out aggressive in that first quarter," Gleeson said.
"I thought we really put the tempo of the game out there.
"We struggled a bit offensively getting into some rhythm (in the third term), then we found it again in the fourth, especially the last five minutes."
