Adams Sparks JackJumpers to Second Win in NBL

Josh Adams delivered a more well-rounded performance to help lead the Tasmania JackJumpers to just their second ever win in the NBL, opening Boxing Day with an 84-75 victory at home to the winless New Zealand Breakers.

The JackJumpers were on a four-game losing slide after their opening night win over the Brisbane Bullets, but they had a better showing in all facets on Boxing Day at MyState Bank Arena.

There was no signs of fadeout this time around from the JackJumpers as they led by as much as 19 points in the fourth quarter before beating the Breakers by nine to keep New Zealand winless from six attempts so far in #NBL22.

It was import guard Josh Adams who sparked the JackJumpers. Relying less on his three-point shot, his aggressiveness to attack was key in a performance that saw him finish with 21 points which included 10/11 from the foul line.

Captain Clint Steindl had an impressive shooting night too nailing 4/5 from beyond the arc for 14 points and five rebounds while Fabijan Krslovic did a lot of the heavy lifting to contribute 11 points, three rebounds and two assists.

Sam McDaniel added 10 points and six rebounds, Jarrad Weeks seven points and four assists, and the signs were better from Will Magnay with six points, four rebounds, three assists, and three blocked shots.

JackJumpers coach Scott Roth was happy to see things come together for most of the four quarters to get the win.

"We feel very good about the win obviously. We've been working extremely hard for the last weeks and at the end of the day, we feel like one or two games got away from us just because we have 15 new guys learning how to win," Roth said.

"Everyone's trying to find their way in this process and these guys showed a lot of determination and grit to come back and fight today. We wanted to be relentless in our approach, and we are trying to keep teams in the 70s. 

"We bleeded a few points here and there as it went along, and it got a little nerve-racking, but they figured it out. Our bench was fantastic and the guys played very well."

The Breakers just didn’t get enough out of some of their offensive weapons, notably Will McDowell-White and Hugo Besson. McDowell-White finished with just five points on five shots while Besson was scoreless through three quarters ending with six points on 2/11 shooting.

Jeremiah Martin was lively, though, with 24 points and eight assists with Yanni Wetzell continuing his impressive form with 20 points and eight rebounds. New import Chasson Randle showed good signs on debut with eight points.

Breakers coach Dan Shamir lamented the fact that it took until his team was 19 points down to start to execute how they wanted.

"We made a run in the fourth quarter but unfortunately they were the only few minutes when we felt we played how we want to," Shamir said. 

"Sometimes you make a run and we were down 19 so sometimes you make a run just by going a little crazy, and start playing wild. Those were minutes that we actually executed pretty well and unfortunately we didn’t start like that.

"In the beginning we missed some shots when we executed as we wanted but also many times we didn’t get the read we wanted with how we wanted to play offensively. Therefore the numbers are very bad and they had us from the beginning. 

"We chased them and had a few moments where we had some control and played a big line-up, but every time we made any type of run we didn’t finish it."

It was a game of runs in the opening quarter with the JackJumpers making the first break on the back of triples to Josh Magette and Will Magnay. When Josh Adams also finished at the rim, they were up 14-6 with Dan Shamir wanting to talk it over with the Breakers.

His team responded to come out and hit the next six points with Scott Roth then calling for time. And the JackJumpers responded well with quick threes to Jarrad Weeks and Clint Steindl. The skipper then hit another before Magette scored on the buzzer to give Tasmania the 25-16 quarter-time edge.

Chasson Randle made an immediate impact in the second term on debut for New Zealand with a four-point play, but the JackJumpers maintained their advantage and remained up double-figures leading into half-time.

That got out to 13 points with a Fabijan Krslovic bucket and then 14 with three free-throws just before the buzzer to Adams. But the Breakers at least took some momentum into the changerooms with an outlet Rob Loe pass finding Jeremiah Martin with 0.2 seconds left for the three-point play.

Tasmania still led 50-39 at the half and while the Breakers did close to within four a couple of times through the third period thanks to Jeremiah Martin, the JackJumpers ended the quarter strongly with a 9-0 run to be on top 69-56.

The JackJumpers continued on that momentum to score the first four points too of the fourth term to be up 17, which soon became a game-high 19.

New Zealand wasn’t quite done, though, and did manage to get it back to a 10-point game with a Hugo Besson continuation call getting him three points, but it wasn’t to be and Tasmania scored its second win in the NBL.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 4

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 84 (Adams 21, Steindl 14, Krslovic 11)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 75 (Martin 24, Wetzell 20, Delany 10) 

BOX SCORE