Townsville have positioned themselves for an attack on the NBL's top four with a commanding 108-88 victory over the New Zealand Breakers at the Townsville Entertainment Centre.

The Crocs didn't have it all their own way though.

The Breakers came within one point of the lead midway through the third quarter thanks to 26 points from Kirk Penney and strong contributions from Orien Greene (20) and Derrick Alston (18).

Once again it was John Rillie with a game-high 27 points and Corey Williams (22) who led the way for Townsville while Greg Vanderjagt dominated the boards at both ends.

Williams stamped his mark on the game early with 12 first quarter points, creating a 34-22 lead at the break while Penney, with nine, did his best to stop the Crocs' momentum.

The Kiwis stepped up their defence in the second while Alston's seven points sparked the visitors' fightback and Townsville led 55-49 at the main break.

The injection of Townsville junior Michael Cedar, two three-pointers and a crucial rebound late in the third quarter thwarted the resurgent Breakers who came within one point of the lead before the Crocs broke clear 77-69.

John Rillie found his radar from beyond the arc midway through the last quarter, hitting consecutive threes and a long-range jumper to snuff out any chance of a Breakers victory.

Townsville coach Trevor Gleeson believed his side's 20-point victory was a positive sign with the playoffs looming.

"It was a tough game and the guys really stuck together, the guys shared the ball and played unselfish again and the defence has improved.

"We are starting to play some good basketball now but we have got another level we can go to and that's what we need going into the last part of the season."

Gleeson also credited Townsville's interchange for the victory.

"The bench came on and gave us that spark again it was close until Greg (Vanderjagt) has been playing consistent and Kelvin (Robertson) came on and controlled the game they were great tonight."

New Zealand coach Andrej Lemanis was left to rue his side's poor start.

"We came out flat in the first quarter and we gave up nine uncontested shots early and they got to the rim to easy on us and we just kept giving them the ball back.

"I think we averaged 13 turnovers as a team for the game so that was an issue for us but I thought we did a good job of fighting our way back into the game."

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