The JackJumpers put in one of their best all around team performances of NBL24 to deliver a 109-86 statement win over the in-form Adelaide 36ers in Hobart on Sunday afternoon.
Embed from Getty ImagesHaving picking up an important road win in Cairns on Thursday night, the JackJumpers were always going to be tested by backing up at home less than 72 hours later. Particulary when consistency has been in short supply within the squad in the back half of the season.
They faced an Adelaide side with an even shorter turn around from their win over Sydney on Friday night, but were riding the wave of recent success under new coach Scott Ninnis, having won 6 of thier last 7 games and still dreaming of post season action.
The dreams were looking good midway through the first quarter. Adelade held a 4 point lead midway, had forced Tasmania to overcmmit on fouls and were in the bonus, while Tasamian’s leading scorer Jordon Crawford was back watching from the sidelines having committed two early fouls. But the game took a nightmarish turn for Adelaide, as former sixer Jack McVeigh took charge with 10 first quarter points, and his team mates couldn’t miss from across the floor, and Tasmania took a 31-21 lead after the first quarter.
Embed from Getty ImagesMilton Doyle led a 9-0 run midway thorough the second quarter which pushed the lead out to 19 points and Tasmania appeared to be running away with the game. But some late baskets by Trey Kell and DJ Vasiljevic kept them in touch 57-45 at half time.
Tasmania were rarely threatened in the second half as they held on to a double digit lead for the remainder of the game. This allowed Scott Roth to go deep into his bench and even development player Jacob Richards saw his first minutes on NBL action late in the forth. But it was a career high 26 point haul for Jack McVeigh that led Tasmania to victory, while Doyle had his second double ouble for the round with 17 points and 10 assists.
“I thought we were just pretty level headed and on point from the beginning and set a really good tone with our defence early on and got after them and ended up winning all 4 quarters,” Jackjumpers Coach Scott Roth said post game.
Key stats
41 rebounds – Tasmania won the rebounding count 41-28, which included 15 offensive rebounds. Aside from the impressive boxing out, Marcus Lee and Will Magnay put a big efforts to keep sixers leading rebounder Isaac Humphries off the glass, where he finished with just 2 rebounds.
Positives
There are some good signs right across the group of sharing the scoring around. Earlier in the season there was a tendency that both Doyle and Crawford had to have big scoring games for them to have a shot at winning. But the JackJumpers they had 7 players score 9 points of more.
Embed from Getty ImagesNegatives
Very hard to find any real negatives out of this game, but at a stretch it wold be nice if Marcus Lee was a bit less unselfish. He’s always happy to play his role, but took just the one field goal attempt in his 10 minutes on court, with 2 rebounds and one great assist to the cutting Milton Doyle.
Next up
Tasmania (14-12) are back on the road, where they face bottom placed South East Melbourne Phoenix (10-16) in Saturday night at John Cain Arena. The Phoenix currently hold a 2-0 series lead over Tasmania in NBL24.
