It had been five weeks since the JackJumpers had played at MyState Bank Arena, but they put on an impressive show for thier home fans, defeating the Adelaide 36ers 94-59 in a dominant defensive performance.
Coach Scott Roth had declared that the two week FIBA break would see the team focus their attention on the defensive end, as it “wasn’t where it needed to be” throughout NBL24. The JackJumpers delivered at the first opportunity, making life incredibly hard for the 36ers, scoring a season low 59 points.
Embed from Getty ImagesTasmania took an early 8-1 lead, and stretched that out to 25-15 quarter time lead. But Tasmania never put there foot off the pedal, outscoring the 36ers in every quarter to record their biggest win of NBL24
“I was quite proud of the fact that we’ve had opportunities to have kind of a nice lead and we’ve always kind of reeled back and let teams back kind of in and we’ve had to fight out way to get back out of that,” Scott Roth said.
“I think we were up around 20 at half-time and to still win the third quarter by 10 more points was a good sign for us”.
“We kept talking about being disciplined in the second half and just trying to make sure that we weren’t playing the score
JackJumpers guard Sean Macdonald, who had a season high 15 points, also praised his team’s ability to stay in control and not let the 36ers back into the game.
“Its super fun when you’re up big like that it feels like a little bit of the pressure is off but we just wanted to lock in and stay solid defensively, move the ball, keep the ball moving and just play our way,” he said.
Tasmania had key performances across the floor, as they dominated with Milton Doyle leading them with 20 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds, but had plenty of help from Jack McVeigh (14 points, 6 rebounds), Anthony Drmic (13 points) and Jordon Crawford (10 points, 5 steals, 4 assists, 4 rebounds).
Embed from Getty ImagesA jet-lagged Adelaide runs into JJ’s defence
Tasmania’s defence forced a number of tough 36ers shots, as they shot just 29% for the game. This played a big part in the JackJumpers winning the rebounds 55-38, including 20 on the offensive end. But Roth was quick to point out Adelaide’s difficult travel schedule, which may have flattered his team’s performance.
“They had a heck of a travel day to come back from where they did, and we’re not that good at the end of the day defensively, we just had a nice night tonight because our offence was clicking,”
“Credit to our guys but [allowing] 59 is probably just a little bit out of the ballpark of the norm, boy I’d love to do that every night but its virtually impossible.
Dj Vasiljevic led the 36ers with 15 points and 3 rebounds, while Jacob Wiley 14 points and 6 rebounds.
Embed from Getty ImagesHigh praise for Tassie’s own ‘next star”
Sean Macdonald also played a big part for Tasmania off the bench, looking more than comfortable directing the JackJumpers offence and playing almost 22 minutes. Scott Roth praised the work of Macdonald, who is battling for minutes with a number of high quality guards this season.
“I think people forget that he’s a developmental player on our roster, he’s not a roster player, he’s is our next star, he is our guy that we have invested a lot of time and energy in and he continues to grow and love the work that he’s been doing he was rewarded tonight with a really good game,”Roth said.
Up next
Tasmania has just one game for Round 10, as they head to New Zealand for a match with the Breakers at 5.30pm (AEST).
