Three teams were locked together at the top of the National Basketball League after round seven concluded with drama charged matches in Sydney and Cairns.

Early season pacesetter Sydney suffered its second straight defeat, and first of the season at home, as it was pipped 100-98 by Canberra to fall to seven wins and two losses.

Sydney was joined on 7-2 by Perth which triumphed 95-91 in Cairns, and Wollongong, which scored a 119-93 home win over West Sydney last Wednesday.

The Kings hold a marginal percentage advantage over Wollongong with Perth fractionally behind the Hawks.

Canberra (6-2) was just behind the top three after splitting its games this week in the Harbour City following a 92-87 loss to West Sydney (4-5) on Friday.

The Cannons were inspired by captain C J Bruton, whose game high 33 point haul included six three pointers, one more than the entire Sydney line-up managed.

The Cannons landed 16 three pointers to Sydney's five, but the Kings lost guard Kavossy Franklin with an ankle injury with six minutes remaining and star forward Chris Williams blew a chance to tie the match with two missed free throws with 2.7 seconds remaining.

Matthew Nielsen led Sydney with 27 points while Franklin scored 20 prior to his injury.

In Cairns, the Wildcats trailed at every break and were down by 10 points with nine minutes to play.

Rob Feaster scored 22 for Perth, including a three pointer which gave the visitors the lead with two minutes 15 seconds remaining, while Jayson Wells topped the Taipans (4-4) scoresheet with 26.

The Wildcats split their swing through North Queensland after losing 103-95 to Townsville (2-8) last night.

Veteran Perth guard Ricky Grace top scored with 27 as the Wildcats briefly hit the front down the stretch after trailing by 21 points.

Import Cortez Groves sparked Wollongong's win over West Sydney scoring 30 points and restricting Razorbacks ace Willie Farley to 13.

West Sydney (4-5) remained in touch with the top six following a 92-78 home win over Canberra on Friday when Sam MacKinnon bagged 23 points and 12 rebounds and Simon Dwight finished with 22 points, 14 boards and five blocks.

Melbourne (5-4) remained in the six following a 113-90 home win over hapless Brisbane (0-8), which was without import Bobby Brannen who will be unavailable for at least eight weeks with a calf muscle injury.

Marcus Timmons notched 26 points for the Tigers who won despite conceding the first 10 points and committing 30 turnovers.

Adelaide (3-6) also kept alive its top six hopes with a 123-111 home win over Victoria (3-5) which has lost all four of its away games.

Jamahl Mosley hit a game high 33 for Victoria while Adelaide was paced by 29 from Martin Cattalini and a career best 21 from Matt Illman.

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