Tasmania book a semi-final spot with win over Taipans

The Tasmania JackJumpers have booked a spot in the NBL23 semifinals following a 87-79 win over the Cairns Taipans in the NBL play-in tournament.

Playing on the road and missing key players Josh Magette and Clint Steindl through injury, the JackJumpers took an double digit lead in the first quarter and held off multiple Taipans fightbacks throughout the game

“Our guys are relentless, they bent but they didn’t break and its just the next man up,” JackJumpers coach Scott Roth said.

Tasmania once again were led my Milton Doyle who top scored with 25 points. But it was development player Isaac White who took over on the offensive end. The development player was electric off the bench, contributing points 18 on 7/10 shooting.

“Going into tonight I had a lot of confidence that if my name was called I could rise to the occasion.” Isacc White said.

“Its not going to happen the way I want it to every night but you know I do expect a certain level of myself and so I am pleased but not completely shocked.”.

Rashard Kelly was also pivotal for the JackJumpers with 11 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists. While Jack McVeigh added 13 points.

Tasmania shut down the boisterous home crowd early in the game as they took went on a 12-2 run in the closing minutes of the first quarter to take a 25-16 lead at the first break.

It was a lead the JackJumpers were able to maintain throughout the first half, however the Taipans surged early in the third quarter as Tasmania’s scoring dried up. After 3 pointer from Doyle in the opening play, led by their trio of imports Tahjere Mccall (24 points) Shannon Scott (17 points) and DJ Hogg (13 points) and the Taipans outscored the visitors 17-3 to take the lead for the first time in the game.

A frustrated Scott Roth called a much needed timeout for his team, who had lost their focus on the defensive end. His team responded immediately, they retook the lead and silenced the home fans once again as they finished the quarter 13-2 to lead 65-55 at the final break.

The Taipans tried to cut into the lead in the final quarter, but were unable to make any real in-roads as the JackJumpers were able to continually find ways to score. Isaac White made the most of his extended court time, scoring seven of his season high 18 in the forth quarter. The JackJumpers eventually scoring an impressive road win 87-79 and qualify for the semi finals.

Tasmania will now play the New Zealand breakers in a best of three series, starting on Sunday afternoon in Auckland.

JackJumpers coach Scott Roth was thrilled with his team returning on the playoffs once again.

“Just incredibly proud and very humbled by this because there’s a lot of teams that are trying to do what we did in the last two years and haven’t been able to get it across the line,” he said.

“For our group to do it in two years back-to back is just a great credit to the organisation, my coaching staff and these players.”

He also paid tribute to Doyle, who shouldered the point guard duties with Isaac White and Jarred Weeks, while Josh Magette was sidelined through injury.

“Obviously he had to carry the ball a little bit for us but we kind of shared it around and tried to take some of the load off of him. But he’s a wonderful player obviously and our guys have great confidence in him making right decisions, again he was fantastic”.

Title image features original photo courtesy of Wikipedia commons – Dylan Ingleby