The Townsville Crocodiles will start 2005 in the NBL top eight after beating the New Zealand Breakers 114-103 in their clash at the Swamp.

It was the second straight time the Crocs had won the New Year's Eve game between the teams and the defeat left the Breakers sitting at the bottom of the table.

Casey Calvary led the home side with 25 points and John Rillie hit 23 in a solid team effort.

Import Mike Chappell came to life in the final period to finish with 21 points while centre Ben Pepper scored all but one of his 19 points in a dominant first half.

New Zealand led by as many as ten during the second quarter but Townsville went on an 11-0 run midway through the term to take a lasting lead.

Despite the win, Crocs coach Ian Stacker admitted his team is was still struggling to put a full game together.

"We still aren't playing 48 minutes of good basketball but we played well enough to get the win, Stacker said.

The victory kept their season series alive after the Breakers won the first game across the Tasman last month.

"It was an important game for New Zealand and they threw everything at us but we didn't give in," Stacker said.

Calvary finished the game strongly and also collected 12 boards despite conceding 10 centimetres to Pepper in their match-up in the middle.

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