The Crocodiles defeated the Gold Coast Blaze 88-76 in a fiery clash NBL clash in Townsville on Saturday night to keep their play-off hopes alive.

Blaze point guard Adris Deleon and Crocs centre Luke Schenscher had to be pulled off each other in a scuffle in the final term that involved all players and coaches.

The result was two technical fouls and a personal foul but it did nothing to stop the Crocs from running rampant after trailing by 11 points in the first quarter.

Gold Coast was poised to blow Townsville away after effortlessly building an early double-digit lead, but Schenscher (25 points) inside and Crawford on the perimeter (20) turned the game in the Crocs’ favour.

Boomer Adam Gibson was outstanding for the visitors with 21 points, four rebounds and four assists, while Adris Deleon (17 points, 6 assists, 5 steals) and Anthony Petrie (12 points, 8 rebounds) also performed strongly.

Schenscher was a giant in the paint early, scoring the first six points on the way to 13 for the term, but he lacked support.

Gibson was the main destroyer with 11 points as Gold Coast found the net with ease to set up a 32-24 lead at quarter-time, seven Blaze players on the scoresheet to just two Crocs.

Eddie Gill led a mini fightback as the Crocs slashed the margin to two before Crawford hit a pressure three-pointer to tie the scores 41-41 at half-time.

Deleon was penetrating and drawing fouls at will in the third quarter, including an unsportsmanlike breach from Gill.

Only Crawford’s three vital triples kept the game tied at 64-64 after 30 minutes.

Chris Cedar stepped up with a three before Crawford picked up five gift free throws for an unsportsmanlike foul from Mark Worthington to claim an unlikely 12-point lead.

Deleon and Schenscher almost came to blows as both sides and coaches were caught up in a scuffle, but the Blaze could not turn their aggression into points.