FOR YET another time throughout his storied career, Bryce Cotton was the hero for his side in the National Basketball League (NBL), leading the Adelaide 36ers to a three-point win over the New Zealand Breakers on Saturday night.

Cotton had already delivered another excellent performance, and capped it off in the perfect fashion, knocking down a game-winning three-pointer in the dying seconds to ensure the Sixers remained in the frame for a first-place finish in the standings.

With the Sydney Kings snatching top spot on the ladder with a win on Friday night, Adelaide needed to keep winning in order to remain in contention to steal that spot back, and getting the job done at home against the Breakers was the perfect response.

Adelaide 36ers (92) def. New Zealand Breakers (89)

Although Adelaide came into the contest as favourites, the Breakers were certainly bringing it right up to the hosts, having their own motivation of keeping their slim chances of sneaking into the top-six alive despite needing a minor miracle to do so.

New Zealand scored the first nine points of the contest to silence the crowd and not allow the Sixers to get their offensive game going. The visitors led for most of the contest in stunning fashion, showing plenty of fight with their backs against the wall and holding an impressive 14-point buffer early in the fourth quarter.

They did this despite a strong performance from Cotton, who was not getting much help from teammates on the scoring front, with the five-time MVP pouring in 29 points over the first three quarters and keeping his team in the contest despite a strong challenge from a determined New Zealand side in South Australia.

However, Cotton took his game to the next level in the fourth quarter, dropping 13 points in the final 10 minutes to single-handedly drag Adelaide back into the contest, with the Sixers outscoring the Breakers 33-18 in the final frame, and had tied up the match with just seconds on the clock.

Again the ball found its way into the hands of Cotton, who was always going to take the last shot with the game on the line, and with time winding down, the superstar point guard nailed a dagger three-pointer to cap off a marvellous comeback from Adelaide, who got the job done by three points.

Cotton finished the piece with an astounding 42 points on 14/26 shooting from the field, 7/16 from behind the arc and 7/8 at the free throw line, with the modern great playing all 40 minutes in a performance that may have sealed his sixth Andrew Gaze Trophy.

Backcourt running mate Dejan Vasiljevic poured in 19 points of his own, while Zylan Cheatham was a noticeable presence in the frontcourt by flirting with a triple-double, ending the contest with 12 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in a wonderful all-around showing.

Breakers point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright did as much as he could to lift his team to an upset victory on the road with 25 points and seven dimes, while fellow import Izaiah Brockington was also impressive in defeat with 19 points.

The Sixers have just one more game left in their home and away fixture in the form of a blockbuster clash against the Perth Wildcats, while the Breakers will be back in action for their final game of the regular season against the Cairns Taipans.