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Gold Coast's campaign to make the play-offs in their inaugural season is back on track following a convincing 117-109 victory over Adelaide on Wednesday night.
The Blaze desperately needed to win at the Gold Coast Convention Centre to regain confidence following a 28-point thumping from the Brisbane Bullets - their worst loss of the season - and also to consolidate their top eight position on the ladder.
Gold Coast improved their win-loss record to 8-7 while the 36ers - still missing inspirational skipper Brett Maher (calf tear) - slipped to 5-8.
Import Jason Crowe (34 points, six rebounds) and star guard James Harvey (29 points) were unstoppable for the Blaze, who will travel to Wollongong to take on the struggling Hawks on Friday night.
For Adelaide, Brad Davidson (25 points, seven rebounds) and Lanard Copeland (19 points) tried hard but they couldn't stem the flow as the Blaze took control in the second half.
In the opening quarter Gold Coast looked like a team still reeling from their disappointing hiding at the hands of the Bullets and trailed 25-22 at the break.
But Harvey and Daniel Joyce - the 20-year-old son of Blaze coach Brendan Joyce who had his best game of the season - spearheaded a determined comeback as the home side piled on 32 points to hold a 54-46 halftime lead.
In the third quarter Crowe and Harvey stole the show, with Crowe nailing three baskets from outside the arc and and Harvey adding a pair of three-pointers to guide the Blaze to an 80-66 lead at three-quarter time.
The Blaze were never going to lose from that point and they continued to land three-pointers in the final quarter to further dig the knife in.
Crowe was particularly damaging as he doubled his points tally in the final quarter and slotted seven out of 13 three-point attempts for the game.
