JackJumpers outgun Breakers for back-to-back wins at home

The Christmas holidays just keep giving for the Tasmania JackJumpers as they defeated the New Zealand breakers 93-82 on Boxing day night in Hobart. 

It’s the JackJumpers second straight win at home, following their defeat of the Illawarra Hawks on Thursday.  

Tasmania were led by Josh Magette’s 16 points, four assists and five steals, but also had key contributions all over floor including 14 points from Milton Doyle and Fabian Krslovic. “Fab” played a key role in leading the contributions from the bench, who outscored the Breakers bench 39-8 on the night.  

Having lost all three previous encounters to the Breakers this season, JackJumpers coach Scott Roth was pleased to get a win in their final meeting of the regular season

“We finally were I think solid for the 40 minutes, we didn’t have a lot of dips like we’ve had in the past for a longer period of time. We had out moments in this game but I thought we were relatively solid across the board and it was one of the things I think we got away from a little bit,” Roth said.

Having taken a ten point lead at the end of the first quarter, the JackJumpers were anticipating a response from the visitors. But despite coming at them several times, the JackJumpers matched them defensively, with the Breakers unable make any significant inroads to the lead. Both teams tied the second and third quarters, while Tasmania won the final quarter by one point.

Tasmania also won the rebounding count 45-29, including 16 on the offensive end. As two of the more physical teams in the league, rebounding has played a big role in who wins their battles this season.

“Rebounding is something that we’ve continued to stress, and against this team they kind of out-hussled us a few times” Roth said.

It was the Breakers first game since December 6 due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the squad, which resulted in two games being postponed. Point guard Will McDowell-White remained unavailable however, as New Zealand struggled to navigate Tasmania’s pressing full court defence which resulted in 13 steals for the JackJumpers.

“This is exactly the kind of team you don’t want to meet when you’re down a point guard and your a little bit out of rhythm, they exploited it to the max,” Breakers coach Mody Maor said after the game, as his team dropped their third straight game.

Up Next

The JackJumpers (10-8) head to Sydney for a battle with top of the ladder Kings (12-5) on Friday night 30 December. Before returning home in the new year for clashes with Melbourne United and the SE Melbourne Phoenix