The Townsville Crocodiles have recorded their first win in 2006 after disposing of the Adelaide 36ers 101-93 at the Swamp.

The result snapped the Crocs' five-game losing streak as their big men dominated Adelaide's undersized frontcourt with Larry Abney's 22 points pacing the home side while young centre Greg Vanderjagt posted a career-high 20 points.

The Sixers struggled without injured forward Dusty Rychart with Willie Farley (26 points) and Jacob Holmes (21) picking up the slack in his absence.

While speculation continues over Ian Stacker's future as Crocs coach, the long-time mentor said he was just relieved to pick up a win.

"You feel better after a win," Stacker said.

"You do feel relieved or happy, I don't know what it is."

The loss leaves Adelaide just ahead of Wollongong and Cairns as the trio battle it out for the last two places in the top four.

36ers coach Phil Smyth was philosophical about the loss and said he wasn't overly concerned where the team finished.

"Third or fourth place isn't an advantage either way," Smyth said.

"Although it was a loss there's some things we can take from it.

"Townsville rebounded better than us and defended better than us."

Vanderjagt and Farley staged a two-man scoring war in the second term with the pair hitting 21 of the first 23 points of the quarter between them with Townsville going to the halftime break with a 43-37 advantage.

Two scouts from the Los Angeles Lakers were at the game to watch Vanderjagt and Brad Newley.

While Newley was the focus, Stacker said the spies must have been impressed with Vanderjagt's performance.

"I thought he did a really outstanding job tonight," Stacker said.

"It would be hard not to be impressed how he played.

"It's good to see someone who has put in a lot of work over the two years with us, get the opportunity to come out and play well."

It was the third term where the Crocs really took control.

Two straight triples to Kelvin Robertson followed by another Brad Newley three stretched the margin to 18 by the final change.

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