Sydney have come from behind in crunch time to beat the New Zealand Breakers 85-80 in an NBL nailbiter at Qudos Bank Arena.
Up by nine in the third quarter, the Kings fell behind by seven in the final period before fighting back to claim their 11th victory of the season to remain in fourth spot.
Guard Jason Cadee tallied 21 points and American forward Greg Whittington added 17 while Brad Newley and Josh Powell combined for 26.
Sydney won despite an uncharacteristically off night for captain Kevin Lisch, who missed 13 of 14 shots.
Two-time Olympian Kirk Penney led the Breakers with 20 points and newly-signed American import Paul Carter finished with 14 in an impressive NBL debut.
New Zealand were without star forward Tom Abercrombie, who is sidelined for a month after breaking his hand at training during the week.
Rookie forward Finn Delaney earned a call-up to the starting lineup in Abercrombie's absence, racking up 11 points and seven rebounds.
Sydney made an early statement, nailing their first six shots and sprinting to a 19-9 lead after six minutes.
But the visitors steadied after a time-out by coach Paul Henare, patiently chipping away to be down 23-20 at quarter-time.
The Breakers didn't flinch, fighting back to be down 46-42 at halftime, though they would have led if not for a horrible return from the free throw line (9-19).
Sydney got out to a nine-point lead in the third period before New Zealand responded again, seizing the momentum and clawing their way to a 63-61 three-quarter-time lead.
The Kings were down by as many as seven before making one last stand.
They took advantage of a heavy foul toll against the Breakers down the stretch to snatch a crucial win.
The Breakers' next game is against Cairns next Friday, while Sydney host Perth the following day.
"It was gut-check time when we were down seven in that fourth quarter, and the only way were were gonna get out of it was by playing defence and generating some offence through that," Kings coach Andrew Gaze said.
"We were a bit stagnant and we looked a bit tired.
"We beat a team that was down on players but it wasn't championship basketball.
"When you make one of 14 shots that basket looks as big as a thimble, but Kevin stepped up to the free throw line in crunch time and made the shots. It shows the character of the man to still come up big like that in a clutch situation."
Breakers coach Paul Henare said his side would continue to push for a finals berth.
"Even though I'm disappointed with the loss, there's a part of that's extremely proud.
"The ball is still in our court and we'll keep fighting, and my job is to make sure they keep that belief."
