The Adelaide 36ers scored a key NBL victory away from home, beating fellow-top four side Brisbane 101-98 at the Brisbane Convention Centre.

Bullets guard Stephen Black had a tough three-point attempt on the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime, but missed to send Brisbane crashing (11 wins, 10 losses) out of the top four.

Adelaide's big three of Dusty Rychart (22 points, eight rebounds), Willie Farley (19 points) and Brett Maher (17 points) were again their side's best.

But there were also key contributors off the bench, with back-up forward Oscar Forman nailing four of five three-point attempts to finish with 16 points.

The win was only Adelaide's fourth from ten attempts on the road and improved its record to 14-7, consolidating third spot on the ladder.

The game promised to be a high-scoring affair with both teams in the top three in the league in points per game - and they didn't disappoint early on.

Maher hit his first four shots but it wasn't enough to counter the balanced Bullets scoresheet, with the home side going into the first break up 35-30.

The Bullets extended their lead early in the second and they opened up the game's biggest margin when Black nailed a long bomb to make it 50-39 midway through the term.

The 36ers closed the gap to eight (59-51) by the half, thanks to a couple of Farley dunks.

Both teams cooled off in the third period, with Adelaide limiting the Bullets to only 19 points for the term as the home side committed too many turnovers and took too many hurried shots.

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