The Adelaide 36ers have handed Shane Heal a losing start to his new career as South Dragons player-coach with a 103-88 win at the Distinctive Homes Dome in Adelaide.

The 36ers secured their third win of the season and in doing so inflicted more misery on the winless Dragons who remain in turmoil after this week's sacking of head coach Mark Price and import Todd Fuller.

Without injured stars Brett Maher and Brett Wheeler it was the consistent Nick Horvath who most impressed for the 36ers with a 26-point haul, while Willie Farley (24) and Brad Hill (11) also played a significant role in the win.

For the Dragons Kavossy Franklin worked hard to notch up 20 points, along with Joe Ingles (19) and Heal (16), particularly after halftime when the visitors threatened to pull off a miracle comeback win.

A delighted Adelaide coach Phil Smyth said despite a third quarter fade out it was a good win.

"We are disappointed with that four or five minutes of the third quarter, but then we were real pleased with the way we finished off," he said.

"We stumbled a little bit then once we became aggressive and assertive in the last quarter we were able to get on top of them pretty comfortably."

Dragons coach Shane Heal said the loss was a learning experience and he was encouraged by the effort.

"We knew it was going to be a slog," he said.

"We knew that we are not drilled enough right now defensively.

"We know that we are not hard enough to be able to stop a team like Adelaide that's known for their offensive rebounds.

"I thought the guys showed a lot of heart and character with the way we played and the way we came back."

Heal identified the belief in the team as an area that needed to be addressed.

"I don't think we all have the confidence because we haven't been through the process yet," he said.

"We haven't done the work on a day to day basis to have that understanding of each other."

The opening period saw the 36ers apply some strong physical pressure on the Dragons which at one stage resulted in a scuffle between the 36ers' Lanard Copeland and his direct opponent Matt Shanahan.

Heal, who was jeered throughout the match, opened the scoring with a brilliant three pointer but it was Adelaide who quickly took control through Horvath and Farley to take a 32-22 lead into the first break.

The Dragons seemed to have no answer to the quick movement and shooting of Horvath (16), Farley (10) and Copeland (10) as the 36ers stretched their lead out to 24 points midway through the second term.

With the match slipping away Shanahan came up with some inspirational shooting of his own to trim the home side's lead back to 17 points at the main interval.

The break seemed to drain some momentum from the 36ers' onslaught and the Dragons seized on this with the hard working Franklin, Ingles and Shanahan hauling the visitors back to within 6 points.

To make matters worse for Adelaide, Copeland was ejected from the game late in the period after a second technical foul and the home side went into the final break with a 69-61 lead.

An Ingles three-pointer early in the final term made the difference just three points but Farley struck back for the 36ers with a brace of three pointers to steady his side's nerves.

Brad Hill and Adrian Majstrovich then produced some composed shooting to extend Adelaide's lead and finally snuff out the Dragons' resistance.

The result keeps Adelaide's season alive with a 3-6 record, while the Dragons slump to 0-6.

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