Hurt ensures winning start for King

Matt Hurt has well and truly proved what a scorer he can be in the NBL and the Duke alum came up huge to give the South East Melbourne Phoenix a first win under Josh King with the 79-77 win against the Tasmania JackJumpers.

With Hurt putting up 24 points on 9/14 shooting, the Phoenix overcame a 12-point deficit in the third quarter to end up prevailing by two points in Launceston in King's first game in charge.

The JackJumpers snapped a three-game losing run last Saturday night in Brisbane with the reigning champions looking to make it back-to-back wins as they returned to The Silverdome.

The Phoenix were playing their first game under new American head coach King after releasing Mike Kelly and then playing three matches under Sam Mackinnon, of which they scored their lone two wins of NBL25.

The JackJumpers did well to lead by seven at half-time with Will Magnay having sat most of it after two early fouls before they opened up a double-digit lead in the third quarter with Magnay instrumental in everything in the second half.

Even with Magnay finishing with 19 points, five rebounds and three assists in the second half, the Phoenix wouldn’t be denied and it was a driving Nathan Sobey (14 points, nine assists, seven rebounds) layup that sealed the deal.

The Phoenix improve to 3-6 with the victory and go 1-0 under King with Joe Wieskamp also finishing with 12 points and six rebounds, Angus Glover eight points and two assists, and Next Star Malique Lewis six points, five rebounds and two blocks as well as a monstrous dunk.

"I was standing up, but these guys won the game," King said post-match.

"They've played really well as a team the last couple of weeks. These guys want to keep getting better and keep climbing the ladder.

"I've got a good group of guys, they've welcomed me with open arms. They've made it an easy transition."

The JackJumpers are now 3-6 in their championship defence as they shot just 36 per cent from the field with 6/27 from downtown. Jordon Crawford (seven points, six assists) and Milton Doyle (five points, seven boards, four assists) combined to shoot 4/28 from the field and 1/14 from deep.

Captain Clint Steindl finished with 13 points, three rebounds and three assists with Majok Deng contributing eight points and eight boards.

"We've been competing very well the last two or three weeks, but it comes down to lapses of not executing offensively," JackJumpers coach Scott Roth said.

"When you have a shooting night like that it is extremely hard to overcome."

It was a horror start for the JackJumpers with star centre Will Magnay picking up two fouls in less than the first three minutes which meant Scott Roth kept him sitting the entire first half.

Scores were all square by the end of the first quarter at 19-19 but gradually the JackJumpers worked on top in the second period to open up the 42-35 advantage by the long break.

Clint Steindl landed all three of his three-point attempts for Tasmania to help them to the seven-point edge on the back of nine offensive rebounds while the Phoenix did have 10 turnovers which meant they attempted nine fewer field goals for the half.

Magnay was back out there to start the second half and Tasmania were able to open up the first double-digit lead of the night but South East Melbourne did well to stay in touch and to be just two down at three quarter-time even with the game not reaching any great heights.

A tight game, though, as they say is a good one and that's exactly what it continued to be throughout the fourth quarter and the teams were trading the lead throughout the final two minutes.

In the end, Sobey made a tough driving basket late to put South East Melbourne up two and then even with Angus Glover missing a pair of free-throws, the Phoenix held on with Milton Doyle's long shot on the buzzer not falling for Tasmania.

Both teams back up to play again in Round 7 on Sunday with the Phoenix first up against the Perth Wildcats at home while the JackJumpers head to Sydney to play the Kings.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 77 (Magnay 19, Steindl 13, Deng 8, Te Rangi 8, Krslovic 8)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 79 (Hurt 24, Sobey 14, Wieskamp 12)

BOX SCORE