The Hunter Pirates spoiled Paul Rees' 500th NBL game with an upset 114-102 victory over Adelaide at the Distinctive Homes Dome.

The Pirates trailed by a point at halftime but blitzed the Sixers with a 32-20 third term before hanging on grimly in the last quarter to consign Adelaide to its second consecutive home loss.

Geordie Cullen had a brilliant night for Hunter with 31 points, while Aaron Trahair (25 points, including seven threes) and Russell Hinder (15) also played vital roles.

Willie Farley poured in 20 points to almost spark a last gasp revival for the home side, and he got good support from Dusty Rychart (22) and Jacob Holmes (17).

In recognition of his longevity, Rees was afforded a pre-match presentation from NBL general manager Chuck Harmison.

Despite the emotion of the milestone, Adelaide was slow out of the blocks, with the home side backing up from Friday night's narrow loss in Wollongong.

Cullen had a brilliant opening term with 12 points and four boards, but the 36ers fought back to tie the scores at the first break.

The visitors made much of the running in the second term too, as Trahair began finding his range from beyond the arc.

Adelaide clawed their way back into the contest via the several visits to the foul line, and it took a last-minute, long-range three from Trahair to cut the deficit to just one at the half.

Hunter coach Adrian Hurley went into the break thinking the Pirates were in front, and his men played like winners in term three to quickly build a margin.

The tiring 36ers struggled noticeably to keep up, and Brad Davidson's mighty triple on the buzzer put the visitors up by 11 with a term left.

The margin was 19 within three minutes of the re-start, and with tall options Oscar Forman and David Cooper in foul trouble, there seemed no way back for the home side.

A Farley-inspired 19-7 burst from the Sixers kept the crowd interested, but the Pirates had enough in reserve to run out surprise victors.

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