In Mika Vukona's record-breaking 251st appearance for the club, seeing him edge one game ahead of assistant coach Paul Henare, the Breakers adopted all the best characteristics of their leader.
They kept their composure throughout an encounter in which the lead changed hands 10 times, they crashed the boards to emerge with a crucial advantage in that battle and, most importantly, they walked away with a win after playing some hard-nosed defence down the stretch.
It was very different the last time the Breakers played at the Hisense Arena, when they were almost lucky to leave the building with 21-point losers after perhaps their worst performance of the campaign.
And the Kiwi club played like they had a point to prove today, surviving the scrap to seize sole possession of top spot in the Australian NBL heading into the second half of the season.
The Breakers (11-4) will be as encouraged by today's win as they would have been with the similarly hard-fought victory over Perth on Thursday night, seeing off a couple of tough teams with playoff ambitions of their own.
Corey Webster helped to ensure their big weekend ended with back-to-back wins, scoring the last four points of the game from the foul line to close out any attempted fightback from the home side.
The shooting guard finished with a team-high 19 points on six-of-12 shooting, while Cedric Jackson produced a typically all-action display to record 18 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals.
Tom Abercrombie (10), Tai Wesley (10) and Mika Vukona (11) saw the Breakers put five players in double figures, with the milestone man also pulling in five boards and dishing out three assists.
Melbourne started like they wanted to spoil Vukona's occasion, jumping out to an early lead as the Breakers took some time to find their offensive rhythm. But Jackson's buzzer-beating three saw the scores locked at 23 after the first, with the teams spending the second taking turns to enjoy ascendancy.
The Breakers' 8-0 to begin the quarter saw them in front but Melbourne headed to the major break ahead by four, swelling to a game-high eight-point lead early in the third.
Jackson's all-round game came to the fore as the Breakers hauled in the deficit, snatching steals and picking perfect passes as a couple of three-pointers from Rhys Carter saw his side lead by two heading into the fourth.
That soon became a double-digit edge as the Breakers showed impeccable timing to launch an 11-0 run, seemingly creating the pivotal difference. But six points in 30 seconds saw Melbourne back in front with three minutes remaining, before the Breakers' defence sealed proceedings with a couple of crucial stops.
Melbourne 87 (Dennis 24, Kickert 20, McRae 13) Breakers 92 (Webster 19, Jackson 18, Vukona 11) HT: 45-41
- By Kris Shannon of NZME
