The Adelaide 36ers celebrated Brett Maher's record breaking 482nd NBL appearance for the club with a dramatic 115-108 win over the South Dragons at the Distinctive Homes Dome in Adelaide.

In a see-sawing contest the 36ers overcame a 14-point halftime deficit to secure the win, with Maher shooting 19 points in a fittingly superb all-court performance on a special night for both he and his club.

New 36ers' recruit Adam Ballinger was also outstanding with 27 points, while Lanard Copeland sank a valuable 14.

For the visitors it was the young Joe Ingles who most impressed with a 25-point tally, with Nathan Herbert (23) and the constantly booed Shane Heal (20) also making solid contributors.

In a physical opening term both sides put on a remarkable display of three point shooting, with veteran Lanard Copeland sinking a hat-trick of long range efforts to help the 36ers to a 33-26 lead at the first break.

After the break the Dragons tightened their defence and Adelaide struggled to sustain their early momentum.

The Dragons' improved defence allowed Ingles (14), Heal (14) and Herbert (10) to flourish as the visitors piled on 36 points for the term to take a 62-48 lead into halftime.

The brilliant Maher led a 36ers fightback in the third period, and with Mottram, Ballinger and Copeland providing support the 36ers were back on level terms at 81-81 apiece going into the final stanza.

In a tense final period the 36ers jumped out to a 10 point lead midway through the term, only for the Dragons to edge back to within four with just two minutes to play.

Maher then steadied the ship with a majestic three pointer and despite some late nervous moments the 36ers held on to win a memorable match.

Sixers assistant coach Steve Breheny said their fightback was due to the players lifting their running intensity in the second half.

"Our zone worked against them and I thought we had a lot more transition baskets, which is what we wanted to do at the start of the game." Breheny said Maher had overcome a tough encounter with Ingles to play a pivotal role in the win.

"He was on him exclusively and handled him all the first half," he said.

"But then Mahersy had a big third quarter and hit a big shot in the last." After a third straight loss Dragons' coach Shane Heal said he was really disappointed with the second half fade-out.

"There were so many positives we could take out of this game, and we've done that in the first two games as well, but we just haven't been able to finish it off," he said.

"We got out-scored by 14 points in the third quarter tonight and that was really disappointing.

"Our guys were getting pretty tired.

"We didn't probably have the same depth as what the 36ers had here.

"But we lost a bit of intensity."

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