An imposing performance by Isaac Humphries and improved energy and effort has moved the Adelaide 36ers off the bottom of the NBL ladder with an 89-78 home victory against the Perth Wildcats.
Adelaide had 11 more rebounds than Perth, 54 points in the paint to 32 and all the areas they lamented after Thursday's loss to South East Melbourne were improved.
Humphries put up 26 points, eight rebounds and three steals on 12-of-17 shooting, with the former NBA centre the most influential man on the court.
It improved the Sixers to 2-5 with Kyrin Galloway coming up huge too for 16 points and seven rebounds with 3-of-5 three-point shooting.
New signing DJ Vasiljevic added 15 points, Jacob Wiley 10 (eight rebounds, four assists) and Trey Kell III nine (seven rebounds, three assists).
Adelaide coach CJ Bruton knew his team had to respond after Thursday's loss to the Phoenix.
"This was like a grand final, you want to stay in the hunt and don't want to let games get away," Bruton said.
"We shortened our rotations (only used eight players) and I thought everyone who touched the floor all made an impact.
"I'm excited for the players and the club, and everyone did their best to play the brand of basketball that I visioned. The effort was there for 40 minutes."
Perth have now lost three straight at 2-4 despite the 17 points, 13 rebounds and five assists from Keanu Pinder along with 14 points from Corey Webster and 12 from his younger brother Tai.
Despite a strong individual performance, it was frustration for Pinder afterwards back where he started his NBL career.
"I'm pretty frustrated," he said.
"Things didn't go our way tonight but I'm just frustrated on the little mistakes that we made.
"I honestly don't think I'm playing my best basketball right now either and have a long way to go to gel with this team, but that's just something that happens over time."
Superstar Bryce Cotton struggled for 11 points on 2-of-15 shooting, with the Wildcats unable to win to mark the 450th game of six-time championship-winning captain Jesse Wagstaff.
The home team raced to an 11-2 start with Humphries imposing himself inside and Vasiljevic dropping two threes.
Adelaide were still up six midway through the second period, but then had another trademark rough patch.
The Wildcats went on a 13-2 run to lead 40-39 at the half despite being out-rebounded by nine and the 15 points and five rebounds from Humphries.
Cotton had just three points on 1-of-7 shooting, but hit an early three in the second half, with the Wildcats remaining narrowly ahead thanks to a pair of triples from Tai Webster.
Adelaide were able to stick with them, though, and held a two-point lead at three-quarter-time before scoring the first six points of the final period to set up the eventual 11-point win.
