The Tasmania JackJumpers picked up another preseason win, defeating Melbourne United 89-76 at the Elphin Sports Centre in Launceston last night.
The win is Tasmania’s second over United this week, after a 16 point win in Ulverstone on Monday night.
After an off shooting night on Monday, Milton Doyle was able to find his range on the rims at Elphin. He top scored with with 22 points, shooting 9-15 from the floor and handed out four assists.
All five of Tasmania starts scored double figures in points, with Krslovic putting in another strong appearance (15 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals). While Jack McVeigh (13 points), Jordon Crawford (11 points) and Anthony Drmic (10 points) all contributing to the scoreboard.
The JackJumpers coaching staff once again ran plenty of different player combinations, with the bench players getting plenty of pre-season minutes.
“Everyone got to play a little bit, so just developing that rhythm and chemistry as a group, something we’re going to continue to work on coming into the Blitz”, Assistant Coach Jack Fleming said.
“All our Australians have been doing a lot of work throughout the preseason so really important that we rewarded them with that and also got the starting group in for bits and pieces,” he said.
This included new Tassie recruit Lauchie Barker. who was able to spend 20 minutes out on court. Joining the club on a Injury replacement deal, Barker has enjoyed his first time on court in an NBL capacity after being involved with the club for since their inception.
“Lauchie spent time with the group at different points last season and this season, so to have him out in front of his home town was really awesome,” Fleming said.
United put on tougher performance to hang with JJ’s early
For Melbourne United, they once again put out a relatively young and inexperienced squad. However, after being blown out early in their encounter on Monday night, United were more prepared for the JackJumpers offence from the opening tip. Led by Tasmania born Tanner Krebs, United opened up a nine point lead late in the opening term, before a series of late baskets by Tasmania reduced the quarter time lead to 28-25.
The two sides battled closely for the rest of the half. With the sides locked at 43 all midway, before late baskets from Doyle, Crawford and MacDonald game them an 53-45 half time lead. That lead below out do double digits in the second half as the JackJumpers starters showed their class against the inexperienced United outfit, taking a commanding 79-61 lead at the final break.
Roth keeps the faith with his bench to close out game
That impressive third quarter allowed the JackJumpers starters to take a rest in the forth quarter, with coach Scott Roth elected to go to his bench for the 4th quarter. The Tassie reserves looked shaky, as United reeled off 10 straight points in the opening three minutes before Barker hit a jump shot to settle the nerves of the locals. United got the margin down to six points, but the JackJumpers held the nerve, with some cool head from Krslovic and Macdonald to hold on to win 89-78.
From here the JackJumpers head back into training, before they head to the NBL Blitz on the Gold Coast. The JackJumpers open the Blitz on Saturday 16 September against the South East Melbourne Phoenix before further games against the New Zealand Breakers (19 September) and Adelaide 36ers (21 September).
Tasmania opens the NBL 23-24 season against the Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena on Friday 29 September.
