JackJumpers win thriller on hot Doyle

Will Magnay and Sean Macdonald returned in spectacular fashion and Milton Doyle landed eight three-pointers for the first time in his NBL career as the Tasmania JackJumpers overcame a hot Brisbane Bullets start to end up prevailing 95-92.

The Bullets were beginning their first double-header weekend of NBL25 and started in blistering fashion at MyState Bank Arena racing out to a 17-3 opening in less than three minutes.

The JackJumpers did fire back with Macdonald (seven points, seven assists) tremendous in his first game of the season after an ankle injury and Magnay (14 points, seven rebounds, three steals) outstanding back from a shoulder complaint.

However, the Bullets again put themselves in a winning position with Keandre Cook hitting three triples in the fourth quarter on his way to 6/12 for the game with 23 points along with five steals to help his team to the 86-80 lead with two and-a-half minutes to go.

From there, though, it was all Doyle and he knocked down three more triples firstly to bring Tasmania back within striking distance, then to go ahead and then to go up four on the way to the eventual three-point win.

It's back-to-back wins for Tasmania with the reigning champs now 5-8 heading into the FIBA break with Doyle making 8/11 from downtown for 32 points and seven rebounds.

Jordon Crawford also had 11 points and seven assists for the JackJumpers, and Anthony Drmic nine points with a pair of three balls.

JackJumpers coach Scott Roth was delighted with what Doyle delivered and the overall uptick from his team going into the FIBA window.

"The silent assassin ... he (Doyle) was all-in at both ends of the floor, which I love," he said.

"Last week … he was controlling the game and this game we needed him to score.

"We were starting to click in some areas and our defence started to get really good in some areas.

"I'm very big about process and not skipping steps, not panicking or overreacting ... and remaining really strong with our culture."

It's a tough loss for the now 3-6 Bullets to take having shot 50 per cent from the field with 12/22 from deep with Tyrell Harrison producing another 16 points and five rebounds.

Bullets coach Justin Schueller said his team's execution wasn't the best at the death.

"It's a frustrating one. We (also) had a couple of the boys go down with niggles," he said.

Josh Bannan also had 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists, James Batemon 15 points on 3/3 three-point shooting, and Casey Prather 12 points, six rebounds and four assists.

It was a flying start from a Bullets team who has been slow starters for the most part so far in NBL25 and they started off with a Keandre Cook three ball before then scoring 14 consecutive points.

That included a triple to Casey Prather and and-one to Tyrell Harrison with the Bullets up 17-3 after three minutes having not missed a shot, but the JackJumpers did work back into it including with triples from Craig Sword, Milton Doyle and the returning Sean Macdonald.

However, the Bullets finished with their best opening quarter of the season to lead 31-20 after one on the back of 63 per cent field goal shooting before the visitors pulled away again to start the second frame.

Emmett Naar gave a handy punch for the Bullets to help their lead grow to 13, but the JackJumpers went on an 8-0 run of their own soon after and by half-time had cut Brisbane's lead back to just 46-43.

Will Magnay then took over the game in the third quarter taking out some frustration after missing the last three games. That included him throwing down a huge dunk despite the challenge of Rocco Zikarsky and then hitting a third three-pointer of the season.

He helped Tasmania to lead by as much as four points too when Doyle hit another three before it got to eight by three quarter-time thanks to two late triples from Anthony Drmic.

It didn’t take long into the fourth quarter for the Bullets to tie scores up once more having scored the opening eight points before it became a shot for shot contest.

Batemon and Cook landed threes for Brisbane as did Doyle and Majok Deng for Tasmania setting up a big finish but Cook landed another two triples to push the visitors out to a six-point lead with four minutes on the clock.

Doyle wasn’t done, though, as he made his sixth and seventh three balls to put the home team back up two with 1:28 to go, and when he hit his eighth 50 seconds later and he had sealed the win for the defending champions.

The JackJumpers now don't play again until after the FIBA window while the Bullets have the short turnaround to play host to the Perth Wildcats on Sunday in their first back-to-back of NBL25.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 95 (Doyle 32, Magnay 14, Crawford 11)

BRISBANE BULLETS 92 (Cook 23, Harrison 16, Bannan 15, Batemon 15)

BOX SCORE