Noi the difference in crucial Kings win

On an afternoon where the Tasmania JackJumpers showed their gritty nature to put the clamps on the Sydney Kings, Kouat Noi put in a career-best scoring performance to be crucial in the important 88-77 home victory.

After a tight affair in front of 16,705 for the Kings' Pink Hoops Game, it wasn’t until Sydney finished with an 18-4 run that the first double-figure lead eventuated for the 11-point win with Noi producing 32 points and four rebounds with 18/19 free-throw shooting.

Everything was pointing in favour of the Kings at Qudos Bank Arena with them playing a first game in a week up against a JackJumpers team having lost their last couple by a combined 42 points.

Tasmania were also still missing key trio Sean Macdonald, Will Magnay and Majok Deng, but you can't write off the JackJumpers and they put in another strong showing to keep it a low-scoring grind.

While Jaylen Adams (17 points, six assists, 6/19 shooting), Xavier Cooks (10 points, eight rebounds), Alex Toohey (two points, 0/6) and Cam Oliver (12 points, eight rebounds) were kept relatively in check by the JackJumpers, it was Noi who ultimately proved the difference.

Still coming off the bench for the Kings, he put in a career-best scoring performance with 32 points in 26 minutes while Izayah Le'afa hit three triples for nine points, four rebounds and two assists as Sydney move to third place at 15-10.

"I feel really excited about where we went to win the game," Kings coach Brian Goorjian said.

"We won the game in all those controllable areas."

The JackJumpers remain sixth but only just at 12-13 with Milton Doyle finishing with 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Jordon Crawford 17 points and four assists, and Ian Hummer 11 points and four boards.

However, 17 turnovers from Tasmania for 24 points for the Kings proved crucial in the final result as did Sydney's 14 offensive rebounds for 15 second chance points.

"There were just little moments that were self-inflicted, a few bad turnovers here and there, a missed box out," JackJumpers coach Scott Roth said.

"We gave them quite a scare, I believe, and I'm really proud of our group."

Even though the game started with three-point bombs from Cam Oliver and Milton Doyle for the respective teams, there was only another nine shots made the rest of the first quarter and another 25 points.

By quarter-time it was Sydney leading narrowly 16-15 while shooting 5/15 from the floor while Tasmania were going at 6/15 in what was becoming a defensive grind.

That didn’t change a whole lot in the second quarter with just another 22 points for the Kings and 19 for the JackJumpers with the home team leading 38-34 going into half-time.

It was the 11 points off Tasmania's six turnovers that was important for the Kings holding the lead with Cam Oliver's bucket on the buzzer before going to the locker room giving the home team the four-point advantage.

Tasmania did open the second half with a three-pointer from Reuben Te Rangi and Ian Hummer soon added another, and getting points from those unusual sources was going to be crucial.

It was Kouat Noi keeping Sydney in front and he had another 15 points in the third quarter, but the Kings only had 18 in total and the JackJumpers even briefly assumed the lead with Jordon Crawford inspiring a 13-3 run.

It was Sydney narrowly leading 56-55 by three quarter-time and it was time for big shots galore in the fourth quarter.

The Kings got big threes from Izayah Le'afa, Noi, Le'afa again and then Jaylen Adams, but the JackJumpers also got long balls from Te Rangi, Steindl, Hummer and Doyle to keep things close.

In the end in the final minutes, Sydney outscored Tasmania to close out the game with 18 of the last 22 points to win by 11.

The Kings now head to Melbourne for a mouth watering and crucial match up with the South East Melbourne Phoenix as they jostle over a top four spot.

The JackJumpers will also be next in action against the Phoenix at the State Basketball Centre on Saturday night.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

SYDNEY KINGS 88 (Noi 32, Adams 17, Oliver 12)

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 77 (Doyle 21, Crawford 17, Hummer 11)

BOX SCORE