History Made as JackJumpers Beat Taipans at Blitz

The Tasmania JackJumpers have made history by playing in their first victory at the NBL Blitz in front of their home fans on Tuesday night, defeating the Cairns Taipans 81-66.

It was an impressive performance from the JackJumpers in their second appearance at the Blitz at their home at MyState Bank Arena. Coming off a loss to the Brisbane Bullets on Sunday, they came back impressively on Tuesday to beat the Snakes.

It was all but a sold out crowd of nearly 5000 people once again on hand to cheer on the JackJumpers ahead of their entry into the #NBL22 season, and they went home happy with their team virtually leading from start to finish against the Snakes.

The Taipans did welcome back Nate Jawai but were without new import Tahjere McCall while the JackJumpers had everyone available bar former NBA big man Will Magnay.

Both teams were keen to bounce back from first up losses on Sunday with the JJ's falling to the Bullets while the Taipans lost in overtime to the Adelaide 36ers, and it was Tasmania flying out of the blocks to lead 8-2 early doors.

A Jack McVeigh triple soon made that 13-4 and still by quarter-time the home team was up 21-16.

It was a three-point party to end the first half from both teams with Majok Deng, Bul Kuol and Scott Machado all hitting from deep for Cairns as did Josh Magette and Josh Adams for the JackJumpers, with Tasmania still up 44-38 by the half-time interval.

Even though the Taipans got within two points several times during the third term, and while scoring dried up, the drama didn’t and at one stage new Snakes coach Adam Forde received a tech foul and even pushed assistant coach Sam Gruggen away when he tried to cool him down.

In the end, the JackJumpers still led by eight at three quarter-time before consecutive three-point bombs from Jarrad Weeks and Adams in the fourth period sealed the deal as they made history with the 15-point victory.

The number of strong contributors the JackJumpers had would have been most pleasing for coach Scott Roth with five players scoring in double-figures, 11 players scoring altogether and every single player who hit the court collecting at least one rebound.

It was a much improved showing on what they delivered first up against Brisbane with Josh Adams leading the way with 15 points including hitting three three-pointers.

Josh Magette also hit a couple of threes on his way to 13 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals while Jack McVeigh added 12 points, five boards and two steals, Mikyle McIntosh 12 points and two boards, and Clint Steindl 12 points and three steals.

Stephen Zimmerman was once again a standout for the Taipans with the big man finishing with 16 points and 11 rebounds on 6/10 shooting.

Mirko Djeric added 11 points and five rebounds while Majok Deng contributed 12 points and six boards, and Nate Jawai seven points and four rebounds in his first appearance of the pre-season.

Both teams are next in action on Sunday afternoon at the NBL Blitz in Tasmania with the JackJumpers facing the Adelaide 36ers while the Taipans take on the Perth Wildcats.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL BLITZ

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 81 (Adams 15, Magette 13, McVeigh 12, McIntosh 12, Steindl 12)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 66 (Zimmerman 16, Deng 12, Djeric 11) 

BOX SCORE