JackJumpers Hit Back Strongly Over Shorthanded Phoenix

The Tasmania JackJumpers hit back impressively from a self-diagnosed butt whooping to close 2022 to open 2023 with a standout performance at home on New Year's Day beating the South East Melbourne Phoenix 99-74.

Already missing Ryan Broekhoff, Gary Browne and Zhou Qi, the last thing the Phoenix could afford at MyState Bank Arena on Sunday was another injury to a key player. 

That's exactly what they got with Trey Kell III hurting a knee, but either way the JackJumpers were never going to be denied back in front of their home fans after Friday night's 20-point loss in Sydney to the Kings.

After conceding seven of the game's first nine points, Tasmania put together a tremendously dominant performance and it was all on the back of controlling the possession game which has become their trademark.

The JackJumpers forced the Phoenix into 25 turnovers for the game and scored 32 points off those, while also winning the rebound count 47 to 39. 

That included 22 at the offensive end for 18 second chance points with Tasmania ending up taking 25 more field goals than South East Melbourne.

It was a crucial win too for the JackJumpers who improve to an 11-9 record to consolidate their top six spot. The Phoenix are 12-9 having lost their last couple.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Magnay protecting the paint ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live and free on 10 Peach and 10 play | live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/j4t3r0Xd6F">pic.twitter.com/j4t3r0Xd6F</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1609403736702521346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Milton Doyle once again led the charge for the JackJumpers with 25 points, seven assists and six steals on 10/16 shooting.

Isaac White helped set the win up with all 18 of his points coming in the first half too while he pulled down seven rebounds. Josh Magette added 14 points, four steals, three assists and three rebounds.

Rashard Kelly finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals, Fabijan Krslovic 10 points and seven boards, and Jack McVeigh nine points.

JackJumpers coach Scott Roth was proud of his team's response to the loss in Sydney on Friday.

"Regardless of what transpired over the X amount of weeks here, I love this group and I love our passion, and I love the character of these guys," Roth said. 

"I know who they are as people and I know their mindsets and what they really are about. Every now and then you have to push and prod them a little bit, which is fine, but the resilience of the group in general has always been very strong. They're quite a passionate group of guys who love each other and do the right things, and today was a big harping about our values and culture, and making sure we are representing that continuously when we walk onto the floor to play. 

"We had some moments the other night where I didn’t like how we looked visually in Sydney so it's a great credit to them and we just have a fearless bunch of guys who really enjoy playing with each other."

It was rough going for the Phoenix with Alan Williams finishing with 21 points and 11 rebounds and Mitch Creek 18 points, eight boards and four assists, but most of their best work was done in the first half.

Junior Madut contributed eight points and four rebounds, and Owen Foxwell seven points and four assists.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell knew that letting Tasmania dominate the offensive boards and force them into so many turnovers was never a recipe to success.

"Firstly I thought Tassie were excellent. All the areas that we focused on when Tassie's at their best, they came out and they were sublime at," Mitchell said.

"Their effort on the offensive boards was insane. We just really let ourselves down there and the continuation of the game we got worse in protecting our defensive boards. 

"Their pressure on the floor, obviously we handled that really poorly and just their physicality and their ability to apply weight and pressure on us. We didn’t handle it well and I'm not going to use the kids as an excuse or the guys aren’t here. 

"Regardless of personnel, there's some effort things there that dissipated as the game went on and that's really disappointing."

Alan Williams and Mitch Creek combined to give South East Melbourne the 7-2 start but Tasmania soon worked on top with the next seven points topped off by a triple from Josh Magette.

Milton Doyle started another 7-0 run ended with two Jack McVeigh buckets to put them up 16-10 before Isaac White finished the first quarter on fire.

He knocked down three three-pointers including turning one into a four-point play with the JackJumpers going into quarter-time leading 32-18 with 13 of those on the back of eight Phoenix turnovers.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ISAAC WHITE IS ON FIRE!! A triplet of triples for the JackJumper in the first ??<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live and free on 10 Peach and 10 play | live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/zDIvq638FZ">pic.twitter.com/zDIvq638FZ</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1609392938542587907?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Doyle knocked down a three ball early in the second term to push that lead out to 14 and the Phoenix just couldn’t keep hold of the ball. On the back of those turnovers, the JackJumpers offence was flowing in impressive fashion.

By half-time, White had a career-best 18 points, Doyle 14 and the JackJumpers led 57-43 having scored 19 points from the 15 South East Melbourne turnovers.

The Phoenix did get 31 points and 14 rebounds for the half from Williams and Creek, but needed some help for them which was going to be a challenge with a knee injury to Trey Kell III.

South East Melbourne did start the second half impressively with Williams, Kyle Adnam and Owen Foxwell combining for the first seven points to make it a seven-point ball game.

However, Scott Roth got the response he wanted from a timeout with the JackJumpers going on a 12-2 run coming out of it including triples to McVeigh and Magette to push that lead back out to 17 heading towards three quarter-time.

Another 8-0 run late in the third from Tasmania saw that lead grow to 22 and they were up 78-60 going into the fourth and there was no let up from the home team.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Doyle to Kelly for the beautiful alley!<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live and free on 10 Peach and 10 play | live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/H8ya6GPUuX">pic.twitter.com/H8ya6GPUuX</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1609410446599098368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sean Macdonald and Magette knocked down threes to put the lead out beyond 20 again and it continued to grow through the final period with Tasmania leading by as much as 31 and winning by 25.

The JackJumpers remain at home to host Melbourne United next Saturday while the Phoenix stay on the road to take on the reigning champion Sydney Kings in a rematch from their double overtime classic this coming Wednesday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 13

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 99 (Doyle 25, White 18, Magette 14)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 74 (Williams 21, Creek 18, Madut 8)

BOX SCORE