The New Zealand Breakers nearly paid for another bout of the final quarter basketball blues before emerging 92-82 winners over the Townsville Crocodiles in Auckland on Thursday night.

Seemingly coasting towards their third home win from three home matches in the NBL, the Breakers had to withstand a finishing burst from the visitors.

Much to the relief of the crowd at the North Shore Events Centre, the hosts avoided a repeat of their last-start loss to the Wollongong Hawks, where they were punished for a late fade.

Instead they could reflect on a performance highlighted by a blistering start, leaping out to a 19-point lead inside the first quarter which allowed them to dominate proceedings.

They enjoyed that same margin entering the final quarter, up 81-62 before conceding 14 unanswered Crocodile points which reduced the advantage to five.

A three-point shot from the Breakers' American forward Awvee Storey extinguished the visitors' fire and ultimately left both teams with a three win-three loss record.

It was appropriate that former NBA stalwart Storey made the decisive play as he produced his best game for the Breakers, scoring a game-high 22 points.

Also outstanding was centre Rick Rickert, who scored 16 points and pulled down a massive 18 rebounds, eight more than any other player.

Stephen Hoare scored 18 for Townsville and Cameron Tovey 16 but in-form guard Corey Williams was restricted to just nine points in a three-from-nine evening in which he was effectively shut down.