West Sydney guard James Harvey led the Razorbacks to 104-97 NBL win over the New Zealand Breakers at the Olympic Sports Centre.

It was the first victory of the Razorbacks season after they had opened with two losses and were faced with memories of their disastrous bottom of the table finish last year.

Although they beat New Zealand by 50 in their final clash last season, the Breakers provided tougher opposition to cut the margin to seven points.

"They're a lot better this season and their import Rick Powell is excellent. If we can string wins together this week and next we're back in the running but I still expect some teething problems over the next few weeks," said Razorbacks coach Mark Watkins.

Harvey top-scored for the Razorbacks with 23 points with good contributions from Liam Rush (18), Justin Bailey (14) and Ya Ya Dia (13) while Powell had the game-high score with 31 points for the Breakers.

"I thought we had some really good signs tonight and struggled defensively in the first half. We made adjustments and got the ball to players in the open but they missed their shots," Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis said.

The Razorbacks started with a rush of scoring to quickly hold an 11-5 lead but then became too adventurous, especially from close range.

They missed 12 reasonably easy shots in the first quarter to let the Breakers regain their balance and take a 27-20 score at the end of the quarter.

West Sydney steadied in the second quarter with Cameron Rigby (10 points) and Rhys Carter (nine points) pushing the team to a 50-47 halftime lead, almost doubling the number of successful shots.

But West Sydney were still living dangerously, giving away fouls and turnovers in the lead-up to the break however the visitors failed to convert their chances.

Powell and fellow import Brian Wethers with seven points each were the most dangerous in the second quarter.

It was all West Sydney in the third session, tearing apart the Breakers' defence with quick runs and highly improved accuracy under the basket.

Captain Scott McGregor led the charge with Rush while only Powell offered any scoring opposition for the New Zealand team.

The Razorbacks led by 15 points in the closing minutes but their confidence was dented as the final session began with the Breakers storming back to trail by five points with Powell again dominant.

A series of shots converted from the foul-line by Harvey and a late basket gave West Sydney the advantage to hold their lead through to fulltime.

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