After two impressive wins on the road last week, the Tasmania JackJumpers returned home to put on a show for their home fans, beating the Perth Wildcats 103-72.
The win is their fourth straight win, and after a slow start tot he season, have emerged as one of the hottest teams in NBL.
Perth were overwhelmed by a Tasmanian side that were relentless at both ends of the floor. Taking a team-first approach, they had five players reach double figures in scoring with 12 players appearing on the score sheet by the time the 31 point rout was over.
Jack McVeigh top scored with 17 points, but he was one of several key contributors including from Rashard Kelly (16 points, 8 rebounds), Milton Doyle (15 points, 10 rebounds), Josh Magette (11 points and 10 assists) and Matt Kenyon (14 points) who kept reigning MVP Bryce Cotton just 16 points and only six field goal attempts.
The 103 points was a record high score at home for the JackJumpers, but those numbers are not what impressed coach Scott Roth
“I was actually more excited about the defense first. You know to keep a team like that in the seventies is just an incredible effort by our guys.”
“Its obviously nice to see the ball go through and I think it was maybe an unusual shooting night where you have that high percentage and a lot of stuff was working for us. But I was loved our intent defensively more than anything else to be honest with you.”
Things looked promising in the opening quarter for the visitors, who had struggled with slow starts across NBL 23, as Todd Blanchfield started the game hitting consecutive three pointers. But Tasmania returned the favor with threes from McVeigh and Doyle.
The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the quarter as the lead changed six times. A three pointer by Corey Webster in the final seconds of the quarter gave the visitors a 23-22 advantage at quarter time.
But that was the last time Perth enjoyed the lead as the JackJumpers started the quarter on a 12-2 run. The JackJumpers cranked up the defensive pressure which led Perth to struggle to get into any rhythm on offense. Their resulted in poor shot selection and turnovers, which resulted in easy points for Tasmania, who shot 75% for the quarter and went to halftime up as they won the quarter 56-40, with a few highlight plays to end the half.
The defensive intensity by Tasmania didn’t waiver in the second half as the lead continued to blow out and Perth struggled to find ways to score, scoring just 12 points in the third as the lead below out to over 30 points.
“When you see the gameplay come together and when you sense there is blood in the water and like we were really locking in defensively and that’s what we do. That’s what we pride ourselves on, that’s how we get ourselves going, ” JackJUmpers Fabian Krslovic said post game.
The final quarter was party time for the JackJumpers and and full house of supporters at MyState Bank Arena as they watched everything go right for their team. It also provided a great opportunity to give valuable time to Sam McDaniel who was playing his first game for the season coming back from a rib injory. Tasmania running out 103-72 winners.
TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 103 (McVeigh 17, Kelly 16, Doyle 15)
PERTH WILDCATS 72 (Cotton 14, Travers 12, Webster 9, Blanchfield 9)
