Breakers survive late scare to beat JackJumpers

The New Zealand Breakers have breathed life back into their NBL season holding out a flying finish from the Tasmania JackJumpers for the 97-92 win in Launceston.

The Breakers were in control for much of the evening at The Silverdome with Anthony Lamb producing a 20-point first half.

New Zealand was still up nine with two and-a-half minutes to go when Izayah Le'afa (11 points, five steals) drained a three ball, but the JackJumpers have been the masters of late comebacks, and almost pulled it off again.

Will Magnay was playing just his second game of the season but came up huge at both ends with dunks and blocked shots to inspire Tasmania to an 8-0 run to close the deficit to one with a minute to go.

However, the Breakers iced the game on the back of a still at midcourt from Le'afa, who went up to lay it in. New Zealand scored the crucial five-point win to improve them to a 3-6 record.

Breakers coach Mody Maor was delighted with his team's response.

"We showed character, we showed toughness, we played together and we played well. It's a very big win for us," he said.

"We have a strong locker room with people who care and I'm happy they responded the way they did. But this is just step one, it's not one step that we need to make. There's a lot and we can still be a lot better."

New Zealand left Perth last Friday night flat over a dispirited performance, but came out determined to make amends with former NBA forward Lamb leading the charge.

By midway through the second quarter already had 20 points to his name with the Breakers going into half-time leading 56-47 having made 6-of-10 of their three-point attempts.

Lamb might not have scored in the third quarter, but import point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright took over with 10 points himself to keep the Breakers 13 in front by three quarter-time.

New Zealand then held out Tasmania late with Lamb finishing with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Jackson-Cartwright added 22 points, four rebounds and three assists as they shook off the loss of star guard Will McDowell-White to a knee injury.

Tasmania might have lost their fourth home game in Launceston from six attempts, but the performance of former NBA centre Magnay was especially exciting. He had 20 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks.

Milton Doyle added 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and Jordon Crawford 13 points.

Tasmania coach Scott Roth lamented his team's defence once again afterwards that has been their calling card the last two seasons.

"They just played harder and smarter than us, there was some really good fight at the end of the game from us and our defence continues to be quite porous," Roth said.

"It's something that if we don't fix we're not going to go anywhere that the group wants to go."

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 8

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 92 (Magnay 20, Doyle 17, Crawford 13)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 97 (Lamb 24, Jackson-Cartwright 22, Delany 11)

BOX SCORE