Wellington, Jan 28 NZPA - The New Zealand Breakers racked up a third consecutive Australian National Basketball League win in Townsville last night to maintain their slim playoff hopes.

Down by one at halftime, the Breakers held their nerves to topple the third placed Townsville Crocodiles 91-86 to keep the pressure on for a top-four berth.

With three games remaining in their regular season campaign, the Breakers will probably need a perfect record to have any chance of advancing. They host the fourth-placed Wollongong Wolves next Thursday in a crunch fixture before another home game against the second-placed Gold Coast and an away fixture in Cairns.

After enduring a dreadful slump, the Breakers have rediscovered their winning mojo, emphasised by last night's triumph in a match where the teams were never separated by more than seven points.

They made the shots that counted in the final quarter, a stanza that has haunted them throughout much of their campaign.

Kirk Penney top-scored with 22 -- including four-from-seven three-pointers -- receiving support from Oscar Forman's 17 and 15 each to guards CJ Bruton and Kevin Braswell.

Penney also contributed nine rebounds, beaten only by the 11 to centre Rick Rickert.

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