Doyle, Deng deliver Tassie win in OT

A huge three from Milton Doyle got the Tasmania JackJumpers to overtime and then another from Majok Deng sealed an 84-79 overtime home win over the Perth Wildcats.

Doyle's three-point buzzer-beater sent Sunday's contest at MyStateBank Arena to an extra period, where Deng landed the JackJumpers' go-ahead triple with 25 seconds left to play.

Perth's Kristian Doolittle coughed up a crucial turnover when he took too long on an in-bounds pass and the home team held on in front of a raucous Hobart crowd.

Doyle (20 points) top-scored for his side, with Jordon Crawford and Deng (16 each) both important in dragging Tasmania back into the contest after a horror first quarter.

Olympian Will Magnay posted an influential double-double (13 points, 13 rebounds) after escaping suspension for unduly rough play in Friday's road loss to Cairns.

Tasmania's championship winning coach Scott Roth was relieved to get the win and improve to 2-2.

"You just count your blessings and kind of move on," Roth said.

"It was a really tough battle throughout the game.

"It was physical and tough and these guys hung around long enough to make enough plays.

"It didn't look pretty at times and it looked like it was going to get away from us when we couldn't finish the last minute of the fourth (period).

"But give them credit, they were as competitive and tough-minded as anything else ... it was a really good, resilient, grinding effort by our guys."

Bryce Cotton had a game-high 24 points for Perth, with Doolittle (14 points, 14 rebounds) and Keanu Pinder (seven, 14) also threatening to drag the visitors over the line.

Todd Withers stepped up as the injury replacement for Dylan Windler with 11 points while Elijah Pepper almost became the hero as part of his 10 points and seven rebounds.

Wildcats coach John Rillie took heart from his team's effort in response to Friday's home thrashing to Melbourne.

"I'm very proud and happy with the way we competed tonight," Rillie said.

"It was a different looking team to what showed up on Friday night.

"If we find that level of consistency, the results will start taking care of themselves."

The 'Cats raced out to a 7-0 lead in hostile territory and they were still able to go into quarter-time leading 23-9 on the back of doing a terrific defensive job on the JackJumpers.

Tasmania still had just nine points on the board 13 minutes into the contest with Perth's lead out to as much as 14 points, but the JackJumpers did build some momentum before the half-time break closing the Wildcats lead to 36-30.

The JackJumpers stayed within striking distance getting back within six at three quarter-time thanks to a thunderous dunk from Olympian Majok Deng.

Tasmania then grabbed their first lead of the game with five minutes to play starting the fourth quarter outscoring the 'Cats 16 points to two.

The game wasn’t done, though, and Perth rookie Elijah Pepper put his team back in front with a huge three with 5.8 seconds to play which proved the game's winning shot.

It still wasn't done. Milton Doyle lived up to his reputation with a three on the buzzer to send the game to overtime, and ultimately the defining shot was a late three in extra time from Majok Deng for Tasmania to win by five.

The Wildcats remain on the road to take on the on-fire Cairns Taipans on Thursday while the JackJumpers are back on the road to the Illawarra Hawks on Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 84 (Doyle 20, Crawford 16, Deng 16)

PERTH WILDCATS 79 (Cotton 24, Doolittle 14, Withers 11)

BOX SCORE