Tassie's scoring high leave 36ers on 'life support'

The Tasmania JackJumpers have set a team-high total against Adelaide in a 23-point win to leave the 36ers' brave finals bid on "life support".

Sunday's 109-86 victory at MyState Bank Arena consolidated third-place and top seeding for Tasmania in the league's Play-In Tournament.

And it left the resurgent Sixers needing a miracle in the final two rounds to join them, two days after a win over Cairns left the Taipans in a similar predicament.

There were no excuses this time around for the short turnaround from Adelaide after hosting Cairns on Friday night and playing in the early game on Sunday.

However, the fatigue was obvious and the JackJumpers were able to take advantage by playing at a high-tempo and upping the pressure defensively.

Trey Kell III still delivered 29 points and 10 rebounds for Adelaide but he was playing under duress with fellow guard DJ Vasiljevic adding 21 points.

But a costly passage in the second quarter, when the lead blew out from 10 to 19 in two error-riddled minutes, all but put a victory out of the visitors' reach before half-time.

Tasmania shot at 60 per cent, comfortably won the rebound count and played unselfishly to notch the club's highest score with their final bucket of the afternoon.

Milton Doyle won player-of-the-game honours with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Jack McVeigh (26 points and eight rebounds) was everywhere and five others scored at least nine points.

The 36ers were 5-9 when coach CJ Bruton was axed and replaced by club Hall of Famer Scott Ninnis, who had the squad believing they could surge into the finals when they beat two-time defending champions Sydney on Friday.

But now, after falling to 11-15 and second-last on the live ladder, they'll need to beat Brisbane next up and the New Zealand Breakers in the last round of the regular season, boost their relatively poor percentage and hope other results fall their way.

"They play with a determination that if you don't match you're going to have results like that," Ninnis said.

"We're now on life support. It's devastating; we set ourselves up nicely ... and it all came unstuck for us with so much to play for."

The JackJumpers (14-12) are two wins clear of Illawarra, Sydney and Brisbane in a stacked middle section of the ladder, although the Hawks have two games in hand.

Tasmania made the final in their maiden campaign, then lost in the semi-finals last year.

Coach Scott Roth gave a strong endorsement of Scott Ninnis for the full-time job at Adelaide next season and then fought back tears when told the 36ers' interim coach had taken plenty from the JackJumpers' approach.

"I'm proud of what we've done here ... for other teams to emulate anything we're doing is a credit, I can't thank him enough for that comment," he said.

Roth said a faster tempo and the presence of Will Magnay, who played after sustaining a knock to the ribs on Friday, had contributed to the JackJumpers becoming a higher-scoring team.

His impact was emphasised with Tasmania outscoring Adelaide by 31 points points in his 22 minutes where he had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

"The biggest thing is unselfishness of the group to keep the ball moving," he said.

"We don't tell anyone to turn down shots ... it's guys doing the right thing."