Phoenix soar with dominant second half

The shorthanded Tasmania JackJumpers fought valiantly in the first half but the South East Melbourne Phoenix blew them away in the second half including 41 points in the fourth quarter to win 116-80.

The JackJumpers even led for the majority of the first half, but the Phoenix blew them away with 19 points to eight in the first half of the third quarter before it was a stunning offensive onslaught in the fourth.

South East Melbourne put up 41 points to 18 in the last term to go from seven points down to win by 36.

It was a critical game in the context of the season for both teams with the Phoenix playing a third game in a week at the State Basketball Centre and needing to bounce back from Wednesday's loss to the Sydney Kings.

The JackJumpers had slipped outside the top six thanks to three straight losses and not only were they still missing Majok Deng, Will Magnay and Sean Macdonald, but 261-game veteran Anthony Drmic couldn’t suit up either through illness.

They still started the game 7-1 and had a lot of the first half on their terms leading by as much as seven.

However, South East Melbourne did well to up the defensive pressure just before half-time to nab the 46-45 advantage at the break.

Tasmania just had nothing left in the tank offensively in the second half and the Phoenix rammed it down their throat with 29 points to 17 in the third quarter, and 36 to 13 in the fourth to win big to improve to 15-11 and stay in touch of a top two, and top four place.

South East Melbourne shot 57 per cent and of their 13 threes, seven came in the last quarter with Matt Hurt only making one but having 29 points and six rebounds.

Joe Wieskamp was back in the starting five for 20 points, eight rebounds and five blocks with Owen Foxwell adding 14 points and four boards, Jordan Hunter 12 points and eight rebounds, and Nathan Sobey nine points and 10 assists.

"Until 2:28 left in the second quarter we were playing lethargic and going through the motions, waiting for them to give us the game," Phoenix coach Josh King said.

"We made a couple of substitutions, in particular Matt Kenyon, and he picked up the level and everybody followed him. From that point on, we dominated the game and wore them down."

The JackJumpers remain outside the top six now at 12-14 behind the 12-13 Adelaide 36ers with the reality being four of their most important players out meant it was always going to be tough.

Jordon Crawford finished with 18 points and five assists, Nick Stoddart 14 points, two steals and two blocks, Gorjok Gak 11 points and four rebounds, Milton Doyle 11 points and four assists, and Clint Steindl 11 points.

"We played two and a half quarters of halfway decent basketball," JackJumpers coach Scott Roth said.

"But ultimately we can't score at any kind of rate. We have three more games ahead of us ... our margin of error is zero."

The JackJumpers got off to a fast start leading 7-1 with Clint Steindl knocking down a three while Reuben Te Rangi and Nick Stoddart also scored.

Angus Glover and Owen Foxwell answered with three balls for South East Melbourne, but Stoddart also knocked down a pair of huge shots from behind the arc to keep Tasmania in front.

Ian Hummer scored back-to-back buckets for the JackJumpers to be back up by six while still leading 23-19 with seven points from Foxwell keeping the Phoenix close with co-captain Nathan Sobey scoreless without a shot attempt.

South East Melbourne started the second quarter strongly with the first seven points capped off with a three to Glover as the home team grabbed the lead, but Tasmania weren’t going anywhere.

The JackJumpers took charge for the majority of the rest of the half including Jordon Crawford scoring eight points in a 15-6 run that saw them lead by seven.

But the Phoenix finished the half well with a 10-2 run with eight of those points at the foul line which saw them take a slender 46-45 lead into half-time.

South East Melbourne had a hot start to the second half too with back-to-back three balls from Joe Wieskamp having them up eight, and soon after Foxwell made his second triple of the game and it was a 10-point lead.

The Phoenix were leading by 13 at three quarter-time and then it was party time in the fourth as their offence got rolling including a 14-0 scoring run topped off with Hurt dropping a three ball.

They ended up making seven threes for the quarter with Malique Lewis nailing one on the buzzer for the 36-point win.

Both teams have three games to go over the final two rounds with the Phoenix away to the Perth Wildcats on Friday night first up while the JackJumpers return to Melbourne to play United at John Cain Arena next Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 116 (Hurt 29, Wieskamp 20, Foxwell 14)

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 80 (Crawford 18, Stoddart 14, Steindl 11, Doyle 11, Gak 11)

BOX SCORE