South east Melbourne Phoenix (Creek 27, Munford 17, Le’afa 11)
Tasmania JackJumpers 84 (McVeigh 26, Adams 23, Magette 12)
Match Summary
Don’t dream its over Tasmania, the JackJumpers have pulled off one of their biggest wins of the seasons to keep them in the hunt for the NBL playoffs.
After trailing by as many as 15 in the first half, the JackJumpers stormed home to beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix 84-80 at John Cain Arena.
The win keeps them in the hunt for the playoffs, but will now need to beat Melbourne United in their final match and rely on the Perth Wildcats losing its final two games.
Heading into the game the JackJumpers knew they need to win to keep their playoff chances alive. They hadn’t beaten the Phoenix this season, going down in double digits on both occasions.
While for the Phoenix, they were all but out of the playoff hunt, but had the chance to ruin the party for Tasmania. The Phoenix were also were looking to give their fans something to cheer about on Easter Sunday for their last home game.
The indications early pointed to a season sweep for the Phoenix, as they outscored Tasmania 48-36 in the first half. The Phoenix were led by Mitch Creek and Xavier Munford who had combined for 26 points for the half and were finding points available too easily around the basket. They also held a 26-13 rebound count over Tasmania.
Scott Roth was disappointed in the first half defensive effort of his team in such a high-stakes game.
“We were obviously a little bit out of character giving up 48 points in the first half so I challenged these guys at half-time to clean up a few areas,” he said.
His message to his troops had instant results, with McVeigh, Magette and Adams all knocking down threes in the opening minutes. But it was Jack McVeigh who took over the game, scoring 16 of his team-high 26 in the third quarter.
The @JackJumpers aka the Splash Jumpers are making it rain threes in the 3rd quarter ☔️#NBL22 live on 10 Peach + Kayo Freebies pic.twitter.com/e9UxUSiquq
— NBL (@NBL) April 17, 2022
Tasmania took the lead in this quarter and held on for a narrow 68-66 advantage going into the final quarter.
The thrilling final quarter began with teams trading blows, Glidden knocked down a three for the Phoenix, only to be matched by Steindl at the other end. The scoring continued back and forth, resulting in six lead changes for the quarter. But it was a pair of threes from Magette and Adams that gave the JackJumpers a four point lead with three minutes to go.
Tasmania’s defense stepped up to deny the Phoenix on the offence end multiple times, but their inability to get the ball over through the backcourt provided Phoenix multiple opportunities to get back into the game.
This was no better summed up than Josh Adams blocking Mitch Creeks drive to the basket off an erratic pass from the base line.
"GET THAT CREEK STUFF OUTTA HERE!"
— NBL (@NBL) April 17, 2022
– Josh Adams, probably.#NBL22 live on 10 Peach pic.twitter.com/XFzBqSZO8H
Eventually some cool head prevailed and the JackJumpers were able to hold onto the ball notch up win #16 in style on the road.
“I’m just proud. These guys have been incredible and it’s emotional for me to see the way we’ve invested in each other. They’re an amazing group,” coach Scott Roth said.
“We were on track to not do very well and these guys just responded to a little bit of a pep talk and their character, their fight and their grit was amazing. The defensive effort in the second half was fantastic.”
Embed from Getty ImagesKey takeaways from the game
Jack McVeigh is relishing in his new role
He’s been building all year, but Jack McVeigh is taking to playing as an undersized power forward and finding his role in the team. The last month he has really stepped up at both ends of the floor and become a pivotal player for Tasmania
“The coach challenged me at the start of the year he said ‘you’ve gotta be better if you want to play for me, you have to play defense’ and I trusted him and we do a lot of defense. I think it helped me a lot really learning the concepts and watching a lot more film than I ever have.”
Across his last seven games McVeigh has been averaging 16.6 points per game, up from his season average of 11.5.
Fighting back on the Boards
In their previous matches, the Phoenix have dominated on the glass at an average of 48-36 each game. It looked like it was heading the same way as Tasmania was getting beaten 26-13 on rebounds in the first half.
Not surprisingly their 2nd half quarter fightback on the scoreboard came on the back of their rebounding, as they outrebounded their taller opponents 14-23 in the second half.
