Sydney prevailed 96-91 over the Breakers at Christchurch's Horncastle Arena in a game where the lead regularly see-sawed between the sides.

Sydney went into the final quarter with a 70-67 advantage after a three-pointer to close out the third term from American point guard Kendrick Perry.

They began the fourth quarter strongly with a three from Jason Cadee giving them a seven point buffer early in the quarter.

The game could have gone either way in the closing stages, but just when the Breakers pegged it back, Sydney responded at the opposite end of the court.

Josh Duinker was a thorn in the Breakers' side in the last quarter, making several tough baskets, while Tom Garlepp converted an important late three to put the Kings up by four.  Garlepp was a menace for Sydney, scoring a game-high 25 points.

After a scoreless first half, Breakers captain Mika Vukona came alive during the crunch moments of the fourth quarter. He took over on offence, scoring at will, to pull his team back into the game and also showed off his passing ability, delivering a fine assist to Duane Bailey on the fast break.  Both teams were undermanned for the clash with Tall Blacks Thomas Abercrombie (knee and groin problems) and Alex Pledger (rehabing from foot surgery) both unavailable while Sydney's star off-season recruit Josh Childress, who played 398 games in the NBA with four teams, also sat out the contest.

The Kings have not had a winning campaign or made the playoffs since the 2007-08 ANBL season, but have recruited well over the off-season. They showed enough signs to suggest they will be a much improved outfit this year, especially with Childress in the line-up.

The Breakers were bothered by first half foul trouble with big men Vukona, Bailey and Tai Wesley all picking up three fouls before halftime.

Corey Webster had a lively start to the game, scoring the Breakers' first eight points, including two three pointers. He made his first four baskets of the game and proved difficult for the Sydney defence to contain, notching a team-high 21 points on 9/18 shooting.

Returning Breakers import Cedric Jackson had a quiet shooting game, landing just 4 of 11 attempts, but was able to grab five rebounds and hand out five assists.

Wesley, a new Breakers addition this season, showed some nice touches inside the paint during the second quarter, scoring seven points. The Guam international had a productive 21 minutes on court, scoring 14 points and adding seven rebounds.

He finished off one of the plays of the game, converting a beautiful assist from Jackson in the third quarter.

The teams do battle again in Dunedin on Thursday night.

Sydney Kings 96 (Tom Garlepp 25, Kendrick Perry 19, Josh Duinker 18, Ben Madgen 13) New Zealand Breakers 91 (Corey Webster 21, Mika Vukona 14, Tai Wesley 14, Cedric Jackson 12)