Tasmania clinical in dominant win over Phoenix

The Tasmania JackJumpers are firing at the right time of the season, scoring an emphatic 94-67 road defeat of the South East Melbourne Phoenix to make it three wins in a row as they head into the final round of NBL24.

Tasmania shared the ball around all night, with all 12 players hitting the score sheet by the third quarter. They ended up with 7 players in double figures, but no players scoring more than 11 – a figure shared by Sean Macdonald, Will Magnay, Clint Steindl and Jack McVeigh.

The Phoenix were up against it before tip off, suiting up just 10 players. They were missing 4 of their regular starters, including leading scorers Mitch Creek and Alan Williams, and have been ravaged by injury in the second half of their season.

But it was a strong fight from the Phoenix in the first quarter, who hung tough with Tasmania as they shot 5/8 from outside with three point baskets by Rhys Vague, Ben Ayre and Kody Stattman, Tasmania mostly ignored the outside shot and focused taking advantage of the size advantage, finding Magnay, Lee and Krslovic inside to open a 24-19 first quarter lead.

The Phoenix were unable to replicate their hot start and didn’t hit a three for the second quarter, as Tasmania piled in the offensive pressure inside the paint. Clint Steindl brought the pain from the outside with a pair of threes in a dominant second quarter, to open up a 49-30 half time lead.

Things got worse for the Phoenix in the third quarter as head Coach Mike Kelly picked up a second technical foul and was ejected from the game, handing the reins over to assistant Sam Mackinnon for the remainder of the contest. The lead did balloon out to as many as 33 points, and the quarter also saw Launchie Barker become the 12th JackJumper to score in the game with a pain of free throws.

Despite being down 74-44 at the final break the Phoenix held tough to win the final quarter 23-20 and give their sell-out crowd something to cheer about. Import Abel Nader led his team with 19 points and Ayre’s 13 points.

Tasmania overall outgunning the Phoenix from all over the floor to a 27 point win but particularly on the inside, where they won the points in the paint 40-24.

Winning season #3

After the game JackJumpers coach Scott Roth reflected on his team’s 15th win of the season.

“The biggest thing is that I’m super proud of this particular group because this is our third year in-a-row of posting a winning season,” Roth said.

“I don’t think it’s ever been done by an expansion team so for us to do that three years in-a-row in this type of league, it was a little choppy for us during the course of the season, I’m super proud to get 15 wins and finish in the top three.”

The JackJumpers win loss record was 17-11 in their debut season, and 16-12 in their second.

High praise for Bairstow

Bench centre Jarred Bairstow came in for some rare action in the second half, logging 9 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in just over 8 minutes of action.

Having not played for several games, the veteran receive d high raise from Roth post game.

“Jarred Bairstow, who doesn’t play, gets in and just is in the right places at the right time and he’s a culture driver for us and a huge factor for how this franchise has been built around guys like him that people I think underappreciate but in Tasmania he is a powerful influence on our group,” Roth said.

Next up

The 3rd place JackJumpers final game of the regular season is against the Perth Wildcats on Saturday 17 February at MyState Bank Arena. Despite Perth winning last night and locking up 2nd spot, the match will still be of significance as is the JackJumpers teal game raising funds for Gynaecological Cancer via the SHE Foundation, a charity close to the JackJumpers organisation.