4 Dec 2010

Gold Coast, Adelaide break ANBL losing streaks

6:16 am on 4 December 2010

The Gold Coast Blaze have returned to the Australian National Basketball League's winner's circle in style with a 85-68 win against the Sydney Kings in their Round Eight clash at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on Friday night.

Blaze import Ira Clark was the star of the show with a game-high 29 points, assisted by sterling performances from livewire Chris Goulding (13 points and four assists) and Boomer Mark Worthington (12 points, 12 boards and five assists).

Julian Khazzouh (22 points, 9 rebounds) led the way for the Kings while new import Patrick The Colonel Sanders added 13 points on debut and Graeme Dann had 10.

Meanwhile, the Adelaide 36ers have snapped a four-game losing streak with an impressive 92-79 victory over the in-form Townsville Crocodiles at The Dome in Adelaide on Friday.

Skipper Adam Ballinger led the hosts' charge (18 points at 64 percent and eight rebounds), while the support of reserve Daniel Johnson (14 points at 83 percent, six boards) was invaluable.

For the Crocs, whose three-match winning stretch came to an end, import Will Blalock (15 points) was tireless, and Luke Schenscher (15 points, 12 rebounds) performed admirably at his old hunting ground before fouling out midway through the final term.