Townsville's aging superstar Rob Rose celebrated his 39th birthday with a night out at the Melbourne Tigers' expense in his side's 113-85 national basketball league win.

Rose, who turned 39 on Saturday, provided his own celebratory fireworks as he shot the lights out at the State Netball Centre with 27 points on five-from-seven three-point shooting and seven assists.

The Crocs looked anything but a struggling team with only four wins to their credit before this game, humbling the Tigers who were without import Dave Thomas due to a back injury.

While the Crocs purred like a well-oiled machine from tip-off, the Tigers creaked and squeaked, eventually spluttering to a halt midway through the third quarter as Townsville took a match-winning lead.

Rose and import Jeremy Veal, who finished with 19 points, rained three-pointers on the Tigers as the Crocs shut down Melbourne's offence to take a 19-point lead into the final change.

Townsville heaped on the humiliation in the final term, blowing the lead out to 33 points as the Tigers' starters were left in the match to take their lumps.

Only centre Mark Bradtke offered anything for the Tigers with 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Townsville moves to a 5-12 win-loss record, while the fifth-placed Tigers are now 10-8.

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