After three straight wins on the road, the JackJumpers winning streak was halted on their home floor, as they went down 91-82 to the Cairns Taipans.
Keanu Pinder was the difference between the two sides, the Taipans forward was a constant threat inside the paint as he scored a career high 34 points.
The JackJumpers had little answer for his size and athleticism around the rim, as he went 11/17 from the field and perfect 10/10 from the line.
Embed from Getty ImagesTasmania were in control of the game in te first half, holding a small lead throughout before late baskets by Jack McVeigh, Sean MacDonald and Rashad Kelly stretched the lead to 7 at halftime 52-45.
Pinder had played a lone hand on the Taipans offense in the first half, but in the third quarter better ball movement saw Shannon Scott, DJ Hogg, Tahjere Mccall and Bul Quol all found ways to score. While defensively they managed to slow down the JackJumpers, and cut the lead to 72-71 heading into the final quarter.
Cairns stepped up thier defensive game further in the forth, forcing Tasmania into a number of tough shots from outside. Milton Doyle has been their main option late in games, but with Doyle heavily guarded whenever he touched the ball they searched for a mismatch, but often found themselves with a low percentage shot late in the offence.
A three point basket from Sean MacDonald gave Tasmania an 80-75 lead with 4.30 to play in the game, but it was all the Taipans from here. They went on a 16-2 run, with Mccall and Pinder knocking down 11 points between them, to make it two from two in Hobart for NBL23.
Post game JackJumpers couch Scott Roth was full of praise for the Taipans.
“They played fantastic and it was a classic NBL game to me where it was a grinder, and comes down to the last two or three minutes,” Roth said.
“I think they are one of the best teams in the league, if not the best team, personally just because they have size and athletic ability, and are tough to handle.
But Roth lamented his team’s ability to executed late in the game.
“The ball got quite stagnant for us in the fourth quarter just in general.
“We didn’t make any shots and weren’t able to contain them very much there in the last two or three minutes. I thought our guys fought extremely hard and weren’t smart here and there at times, but we had opportunities. They were just better than us really.”
Up Next
The loss moves Tasmania to 8-7 ahead of a Monday night matchup against the Adelaide 36ers (7-8). The Sixers are looking to continue their miss season momentum following a 108-77 win over the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday.
