Any questions on Milton Doyle’s form were well and truly answered on Saturday night in Launceston, as the JackJumpers import led his team to a much needed 87-75 victory over the Brisbane Bullets.
Doyle led all scorers with 24 points, but it was his 14 points in the third quarter that changed the game for Tasmania. Starved of offensive opportunities in the first half thanks to some heavy Bullets defence, Doyle hit a three off a broken Bullets possession in the dying seconds of the first half. This shot cut what should of been a 7 point Bullets half time lead to 4, which was the spark Doyle was looking for.
Entering the second half, Doyle picked up where he left off knocking down consecutive threes, and scoring 14 points for the quarter.
“My goal for the game was to be a little more aggressive,” Milton Doyle said post game.
I think I took 10 shots last game and the game before that, so just trying to get more shots up and some fell in, that’s always good,” he said.
Embed from Getty ImagesDoyle’s efforts also motivated his team, as the JackJumpers collectively hit 7 three pointers on their way to a 34-21 third quarter, and take a 75-66 lead into the final quarter.
But after defeating the JackJumpers in Brisbane last week, the Bullets were not ready to roll over just yet. Nathan Sobey and Tyrell Harrison both went to work early at the offensive end, and were consistently able to find way to score around the basket.
Tasmania also aided the Bullets comeback as they were thier own worst enemy with fouls, Majok Deng commiting two fouls in the opening 8 seconds of the quarter, while two more team fouls soon after saw Brisbane in the bonus for the final seven and a half minutes of play.
With the JackJumpers defence forced to play slightlytly more passive, Brisbane continued to attack the rim and quickly made inroads into the JackJumpers lead. A driving layup by Mitch Norton tied the game up at 83 all with just over three minutes to play, capping off a 17-8 run, with Tasmania needing to find ways to score.
Embed from Getty ImagesA alley-oop dunk from MacDonald to Lee and a layup to Jack McVeigh gave the JackJumpers some breathing room, but two more free throws to Harrison at the other end cut the lead 87-85 two points with two minutes to play. What followed was two minutes of chaotic basketball, with missed free throws by Mitch Norton, turnovers by both sides and a missed shot in the final seconds by Sam McDaniel saw Tasmania sneak home with a two point win.
Outside of Doyle, Tasmania had 13 points from McVeigh and Jordon Crawford had 11 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds. While the Bullets were led by Harrison’s 20 points and 8 rebounds, and Sobeys 18 points and 6 rebounds.
“Its fantastic win win a game up here actually,” Scott Roth said post game, noting that his team had a 1-3 record of playing in Launceston across their first two seasons and average losing margin of 15 points.
“A really good win for us I think there’s a lot of adversity in the game, a lot of ups and downs.”
“Ultimately this league is super tough, its hard to win and there is no cake games where you just walk in and think okay this is just going to be out night and you move on. There’s just too many good players too many good coaches and its tough’.
“We are quite confident we have a really you know good group and we continue to have a lot of room for growth and improvement….. I thought we ticked a few boxes that we were lacking in the last few games in some areas and I think that’s something to build on.
Stats that matter
It was a tale of two different game styles, with the Brisbane outscoring Tasmania 48-34 inside the paint. Meanwhile Brisbane connected on just 3 of 13 thre point attempts, while Tasmania made 13 or 35 from outside.
The difference inside/outside shooting was also reflected in the free throws, with Brisbane attemptng 31 compared to Tasmania’s 11.
Next up
With the win the JackJumpers move to 5-4 and third place on the NBL ladder. in Round 6 they have just the one game, where they head to Adelaide to play the 36ers on Saturday night.
