Kings move to second, as JackJumpers falter

The Tasmania JackJumpers responded to a record loss as you would expect in the first half on Friday night in Launceston but the Sydney Kings overpowered them for the 80-71 victory.

The Kings had 13 turnovers in the first half and found themselves 16 points down against the JackJumpers, but got going in the second half led by two-time championship captain Xavier Cooks (15 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, three blocks).

Sydney held Tasmania to just 26 points the entire second half for the nine-point victory to improve to 5-2 and leaving the JackJumpers 2-4.

The JackJumpers were playing at their second home of The Silverdome with the reigning champions out to bounce back from their biggest ever defeat on Saturday to the Illawarra Hawks.

One thing Tasmania has been tremendous at over their first three NBL seasons is hitting back from disappointing performances, and they recovered well from Sydney's 7-2 start.

Tasmania forced the Kings into nine turnovers the rest of the first quarter and scored nine points off those including going on a 17-2 run.

Jordon Crawford scored 18 points in the first half and stretched Tasmania's lead to 16 with a fourth three-pointer just before the half-time break which saw the JackJumpers still leading 45-33.

Sydney scored the last six points of the third term to be back within four and they wouldn’t be denied with 47 points to 26 in the second half to win by nine.

The Kings won despite 21 turnovers and only shooting 7/24 from three-point land, but Kouat Noi gave a terrific spark off the bench in the second half for 14 points on 3/4 long-range shooting.

Bul Kuol produced a standout defensive performance for Sydney on Tasmania star Milton Doyle holding him to eight points on 2/13 shooting. Alex Toohey also had 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals.

The Kings won the rebound battle 49 to 36 which coach Brian Goorjian pointed to as being crucial in the second half turnaround.

"We struggled all night offensively really and we're in a situation going through change, and playing a different way without Jaylen (Adams) and then bringing him back," he said.

"It was clunky and a bit all over the place, but we got back into the game because we defended and outrebounded."

Crawford top-scored for the JackJumpers with 25 points with Majok Deng adding 11 points and six rebounds, and Will Magnay 13 points, five boards, three assists and three steals.

JackJumpers coach Scott Roth knows his team just needs a find to way to put more points on the board.

"We have been working towards getting off to better starts and the change in the line-up might have helped a little bit, but it was a tale of two halves," he said.

"We looked solid in the first half and then had breakdowns in the second and basically just got muscled and pushed around a bit.

"Our Achilles heel is that we can't score enough points to stay with teams and that puts a lot of pressure on our defence."

It was the worst possible start for the JackJumpers with the Kings leading 7-2 early, but then Tasmania kicked into gear at both ends of the floor.

The JackJumpers would end up forcing Sydney into nine first quarter turnovers from which they scored nine points from, and went on a dominant 19-3 run to turn a five-point deficit into 11-point lead.

That lead had ballooned to 15 by midway through the second quarter on the back of another pair of three-pointers from Jordon Crawford and captain Clint Steindl.

It was then 16 with another seven straight Tasmania points including a fourth three from Crawford who had 18 first half points but the Kings scored the last four points to at least cut the JackJumpers lead to 45-33.

Tasmania went into the half scoring 16 points from the 13 Kings turnovers, and led by 12 while getting just one point out of Milton Doyle.

Steindl landed a three to start the second half to push Tasmania's edge back out to 15, but that would remarkably be the JackJumpers' only field goal of the period.

Their five other points came out the foul line with Sydney scoring the quarter's last six points to cut the JackJumpers lead to four going into the fourth.

The Kings kept that momentum going starting with another three ball from Kouat Noi before they hit the front on the back of finishes in transition to Jaylin Galloway and Tyler Robertson.

Alex Toohey then scored five quick points, Noi hit another pair of triples and the Kings took control to end up winning by nine after earlier trailing by 16.

The JackJumpers have a short turnaround to now leaving Launceston to head to Adelaide to face Montrezl Harrell, Jarell Martin, Isaac Humphries and the 36ers.

The Kings don't play again until heading to Perth to face the Wildcats for a second time already in NBL25 next Friday night.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 71 (Crawford 25, Magnay 13, Deng 11)

SYDNEY KINGS 80 (Cooks 15, Noi 14, Toohey 12)

BOX SCORE