Wellington, Nov 21 NZPA - New Zealand Breakers ended their losing away streak by beating the Crocodiles 85-73 in the Australian National Basketball League in Townsville last night.

The Breakers had lost all of their first five games on the road this season and looked to be heading the same way when they trailed the Crocs 25-14 at quarter time.

But they hit back to level the scores 37-37 at the halfway mark before pulling away for a comfortable first away win.

CJ Bruton (24), Oscar Forman (18) and Rick Rickert (12) led the way for the visitors, while Peter Crawford (17) Cameron Tovey (14) and Corey Williams (13) chipped in for the hosts.

Breakers' former Crocs captain John Rillie made a successful return to The Swamp registering eight points.

Veteran Paul Henare provided four assists and scored two points in his 200th ANBL game. The result saw the Breakers move up to fourth place but more importantly they picked up that first elusive win on the road.

New Zealand Breakers 85 (Bruton 24, Forman 18, Rickert 12)

Townsville Crocodiles 73 (Crawford 17, Tovey 15, Williams 14,)