Jackies march on in fiery clash

Will Magnay was a strong physical presence, Jordon Crawford made big shots and the Tasmania JackJumpers beat Melbourne United 81-72 on the night they unfurled their championship banner.

The JackJumpers were right back to their ferocious best in a Championship Series rematch that did threaten to boil over, but they led early and remained in control in front of a raucous MyState Bank Arena crowd.

Tasmania raised their championship banner before Saturday night's game and played like a team on a mission with Magnay setting the tone at both ends of the floor.

Up for the challenge against former teammate Marcus Lee and Melbourne veteran Rob Loe, Magnay finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds with five massive blocks to be instrumental in everything the JackJumpers did.

Game 5 hero from last season Jordon Crawford then also put up 19 points for Tasmania as the defending champions won their first game of the season holding a United team who had won their opening two matches to 72 points on 33 per cent shooting.

On top of what Magnay and Crawford did, Milton Doyle had 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists with Reuben Te Rangi adding 11 points including a dagger late three.

JackJumpers coach Scott Roth was proud of so much about the night.

"I think the evening was tastefully done with us raising the banner," he said.

"It was obviously a huge concern once we found out we were playing them and wanting to be respectful for that team, and the gold club standards that they have over there.

"I think the fans enjoyed it and then we got down to the grit and grind of playing hard. It's not always pretty but it's effective and I thought it was really good across the board."

Jack White top-scored for Melbourne who suffered a first loss of the season with 21 points and 11 rebounds with Ian Clark adding 13 points and Chris Goulding 11 despite 2/10 three-point shooting.

Matthew Dellavedova had eight points, five assists and four rebounds in a fascinating tussle with Crawford.

"Any time these two teams play there's a level of physicality that's at a high level and it's a challenge for the referees about what they call, and what level of physicality becomes a flop or what's not," United coach Dean Vickerman said.

"But we just weren’t good enough offensively tonight and they did a good job of speeding us up with their disruption."

On the back of the emotion of raising the championship banner pre-game, Tasmania made a hot start racing out to a 9-2 lead with their big guns Jordon Crawford, Will Magnay and Milton Doyle all having an impact.

The JackJumpers were still leading 20-14 by the end of one before Anthony Drmic and Doyle landed three balls to open the second quarter and push the advantage out to double-figures.

The JackJumpers pushed that out to 44-33 by half-time and the home team maintained that edge to be still on top by 12 by three quarter-time.

Crawford and new import Craig Sword then combined for the first five points of the fourth quarter to push Tasmania's lead out to 17 points.

They did enough to answer every Melbourne challenge to end up winning by nine to open their account for NBL25.

The JackJumpers are back on the road to the Cairns Taipans on Friday while Melbourne heads back to Perth to play the Wildcats later that same evening.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 81 (Crawford 19, Magnay 18, Doyle 13)

MELBOURNE UNITED 72 (White 21, Clark 13, Goulding 11)

BOX SCORE