Brisbane held a 16-point lead in the second half of Saturday's contest at Nissan Arena but a five-minute burst saw the NBL expansion franchise produce a 23-6 charge to hit the front before completing their first win outside of Victoria.

Veteran shooter Ben Madgen celebrated his 150th NBL appearance in style with a game-high 23 points to help see the Phoenix retain fourth spot on the ladder with a 6-5 record.

"I said we had to lock down on defence and 35 points in the second half was fantastic, we were able to generate our running game from that," Madgen said after the win.

A former NBL scoring champion with Sydney Kings, Madgen connected on four of his side's 12 three-pointers to play a pivotal role in their first interstate victory.

"We were really looking forward to getting on the road and galvanising the group," he said.

"We'd only been on the road once to Perth and we laid an egg so we were itching to get back on the road and I think we've got a great bunch of guys."

Mitch Creek (19 points, seven rebounds) and John Roberson (17 points) were key contributors to the comeback while Kyle Adnam's 16 first-half points kept his side in the contest.

Jason Cadee led the home side with 15 points while Lamar Patterson and Nathan Sobey each added 14 as the Bullets missed an opportunity to replace the Phoenix in the top four.

The Phoenix produced the highest score of their inaugural NBL season (113 points) against the Bullets in round two and looked well on their way to another big night after taking a 40-31 lead early in the second quarter.

The Bullets responded to coach Andrej Lemanis' demand to lift defensively, forcing 10 Phoenix turnovers in the first half before opening the second half with an 8-0 run to lead by 16.

But the Phoenix launched a spirited comeback to outscore Brisbane 31-10 to close the third quarter then broke Brisbane's spirit in the final minutes as Roberson and Madgen buried clutch baskets to secure the win.

Australian Associated Press