Kings Overrun JackJumpers in Fourth Term

It took three quarters for the Sydney Kings to find their mojo but they finally did enough to put away a determined Tasmania JackJumpers 83-71 at Qudos Bank Arena on Wednesday night. 

Missing imports Jaylen Adams and RJ Hunter along with Jordan Hunter who is out for the season, the Kings were as directionless as a boat without a rudder spinning around in Darling Harbour for the first three quarters.

At one point the Kings trailed by 13 points and they went into the final quarter in a nine-point hole. 

Perhaps it was nerves from the Tasmanian side still searching for their first road win in their maiden season, but the Kings finally roared to life and ran roughshod over the visitors in a dominant 29-8 final quarter.

It was a huge turnaround for the Kings, but it still papers over the cracks that have shown in the midst of their horror injury toll. 

Jarell Martin was the last import left standing for the Kings and he starred with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Xavier Cooks provided a spark at times with 12 points and four rebounds while rookie Biwali Bayles had a standout game with 12 points and six rebounds.

Kings coach Chase Buford was bemused that they "got to 83 points at the end of the day" and admitted they struggled offensively for the most part.

"I think we were struggling for answers a little bit, especially offensively," he said.

"We kept plugging away and tried new things and we got some sets in the fourth quarter, got some better looks and the guys made some great individual plays on their own.

"I am proud of the fightback, the guts from the team to stay together when it wasn't going our way for the full four quarters."

For the most part, the JackJumpers were in control. But their recent trend of falling apart in the final quarter continued and the new kids on the block will need to learn how to put four quarters together.

While they were impressive for three quarters, the visitors could only hit one bucket from 12 attempts in the final term.

Captain Clint Steindl's radar was on with 15 points, point guard Josh Magette had 13 points and four assists while Sam McDaniel had 11 points and four boards.

JackJumpers coach Scott Roth was visibly disappointed with the loss and admitted their offence was not where it needed to be.

"We didn't make any shots (in the final quarter) ... it is obviously frustrating, we played very well there for three quarters," he said

"I take complete responsibility for having our offence behind our defence, but for three quarters we played very well - what I envisaged this group to be.

"It got away from us in the fourth quarter and there are lessons to be learned there. There are positives and we can build on those, get back to Tassie and get back to work."

It was a shaky start for both teams. The JackJumpers opened the scoring but would take another six minutes to find their second basket. Sydney capitalised with an 8-0 run, but they were still lacking direction without Adams and struggled to have any cohesion in offence.

The baskets began to flow for the visitors and late in the quarter, they took a shock lead. A Mikyle McIntosh three-point play in the final minute meant they would take that lead into quarter-time, pacing the battling Kings 20-17.

Kings coach Chase Buford didn't mince his words, barking at his troops that their offence "sucked" and they were surrendering far too many second-chance points to their opposition. A Steindl triple didn't help their cause as the buckets continued to rim out for Sydney.

The Kings began to find their groove, though, left the tempo and take the game by the scruff of the neck and a Martin triple pushed them back in front midway through the second quarter. This time it was JackJumpers coach Scott Roth to launch an X-rated tired and threaten to bench players not putting in.

Back-to-back triples from Jack McVeigh gave Tasmania some breathing room before a Will Magnay bank shot pushed their lead out to six. 

It rattled the Kings. They lost their mojo, kept (unsuccessfully) trying to blaze their way out of trouble and ultimately surrendered a 10-0 run. Rookie Biwali Bayles finally splashed a triple for the Kings, but they went into halftime in a 48-39 hole.

The lead ballooned out to 13 early in the third quarter before Bayles stopped the rot with a triple and Martin thundered home a statement dunk to bring the Kings back to within eight points. However, it was the visitors who went into the final term with a 63-54 advantage.

Back-to-back buckets to Cooks and DJ Vasiljevic brought the home side roaring back into the match as Roth quickly called for a timeout to steady his troops. 

Three minutes into the term, the scores were level and there were plenty of nerves in the Tasmanian camp. It quickly turned into an 11-0 run and the Kings were firmly in command.

Missed free throw shots cruelled the JackJumpers attempts to reclaim the lead and a block by Cooks on Adams set up a huge Angus Glover to open up a five-point lead for Sydney in the final 90 seconds.

It all went pear-shaped for the JackJumpers for there as Wani Swaka Lo Buluk had the local crowd in raptures as he sealed the win with a huge dunk.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 3

SYDNEY KINGS 83 (Martin 24, Bayles 12, Cooks 12)

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 71 (Steindl 15, Magette 13, Mcintosh 11)

BOX SCORE