The Breakers were just five points ahead of the Spirit at halftime but an 18-point unanswered run at the beginning of the second half put the Sydneysiders out of the game.
Outstanding defence and some hot shooting by Phill Jones and Kirk Penney proved too much for the Spirit, who seemed to be lacking ideas at both ends of the court in the second half.
The Breakers appeared rusty after a two-week break at the beginning of the match.
They turned the ball over several times and allowed the visitors to take an early four-point lead, one which might have been greater but for good Breakers defence.
A 12-1 run on the back of good work from Penney and Tony Ronaldson saw the Breakers take a 19-12 lead, but some inaccurate play by a group of mostly Breakers bench players helped the Spirit on their own 11-1 run soon afterwards.
A couple of valuable baskets near the end meant the home team led 26-25 at quarter time.
The Breakers seemed to mean business soon after the break, with three consecutive three-pointers taking them to a 40-29 lead.
However, defence dominated the rest of the quarter, with the Breakers only able to score six points in the final five minutes.
Late scoring from Spirit stars Matthew Knight and Jason Smith helped Sydney to within five points at halftime.
The third quarter started the same way as the second, but this time the Breakers didn't let the Spirit back in to it.
The Breakers scored the first 18 points of the half, with Penney, Ronaldson, Jones and CJ Bruton prominent, while the Spirit seemed to have no way through the Breakers defence led by Ronaldson and Rick Rickert.
The Breakers won the quarter 38-12, effectively putting the Spirit out of the game.
With the Breakers extending their lead in the fourth quarter, mainly through the shooting of Jones, coach Andrej Lemanis was able to rest Penney and Ronaldson and give time to youngsters Tom Abercrombie, Corey Webster and Adam Tanner.
All performed well and the Breakers ended up keeping the Spirit to just 29 second-half points while scoring 68 of their own.
Jones led the scoring with 24 points, just ahead of Penney with 21.
Penney, Ronaldson and Rickert led the rebounding with eight. Smith and Knight top-scored for the Spirit with 14.
The win kept the Breakers in second place in the ANBL, one win behind the South Dragons.
Smith and Tony Rampton tried hard all night in a well-beaten Spirit team.
