Sword shines, JackJumpers hammer Breakers

The Tasmania JackJumpers found some belief on Thursday in Perth and then regained their trademark defensive bite especially in the third quarter on Saturday to beat the league-leading New Zealand Breakers 83-64.

It was top against bottom at MyState Bank Arena on Saturday with the defending champion JackJumpers attempting to snap a three-game losing run and to get out of last place.

They did a lot of positive things despite the eventual six-point loss against the Wildcats on Thursday including scoring 51 points in the first half and with Milton Doyle putting up 30, but the Breakers were presenting another challenge.

New Zealand arrived in Hobart in top spot having won three in-a-row including hammering Melbourne United by 34 points on Monday night, and the Breakers did race out to a 17-7 start.

However, the JackJumpers got stuck in and with 25 points to 14 in the second frame managed to lead going into half-time, and then it was the third quarter where they guaranteed a fourth win of NBL25.

Tasmania held New Zealand to three points for the entire third quarter while limiting them to 1/15 shooting for the 10 minutes and forcing them into eight turnovers.

Contrasting that, the JackJumpers put up 19 points and then went on with the job in the fourth quarter to lead by as much as 27 and win by 19 against the hottest team in the league.

Craig Sword hit double-figures for the first time of the season to deliver for Tasmania 18 points on 6/7 shooting including 2/2 from deep.

Majok Deng added 18 points and six rebounds, Jordon Crawford 19 points and four assists, Anthony Drmic 10 points, six rebounds and four assists, and captain Clint Steindl nine points on 3/5 three-point shots.

They did it with Doyle having just 3 points on 1/6 shooting too although he had five assists.

Afterwards, coach Scott Roth revealed weeks-long social media trolling of players and their loved ones had reached an ugly head in the 24 hours before the game.

"We have a lot of distraught players and family members, wives and spouses and children," he said.

"We have been attacked brutally through social media to the point where it is ugly.

"We have a player whose wife is pregnant and they (people online) wished for a miscarriage."

Roth said he was content to cop criticism about his coaching, the team's playing style or roster decisions, but personal attacks crossed the line.

"It is coming from gamblers and people around the world and from general fans that feel they can spew whatever they want out of their mouths," he said.

"When you start using vulgarity and you start attacking family members and kids and photos on Facebook ... it's too much.

"It's just a basketball game. It's just entertainment. Who cares at the end of the day?

"We're just here to entertain, play as hard as we can. This is not life or death. It's disgusting."

It was a rough night for the Breakers and MVP fancy Parker Jackson-Cartwright still had 15 points and nine assists despite being hounded all 40 minutes.

Sam Mennenga added 13 points and seven rebounds but the night got worse with a first half calf injury to Jonah Bolden for New Zealand.

After Jordon Crawford opened the game's scoring, New Zealand got rolling with the next eight points beginning with triples from Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Sam Mennenga before a put back dunk from Karim Lopez.

Jonah Bolden soon stretched the New Zealand advantage to 14-7 when he knocked down a three-pointer and then it was 17-7 thanks to Matt Mooney.

The JackJumpers responded with three balls of their own from Crawford and Clint Steindl before the Breakers were still leading 27-20 by the end of one.

It remained a tight battle throughout a lot of the second quarter but the JackJumpers managed to grab the lead just before half-time thanks to Craig Sword, and the home team went into the main break leading 45-41.

The third quarter was then a remarkable dominance from the JackJumpers and they held the Breakers scoreless for almost four minutes.

The lone Breakers field goal came with a runner from Freddie Gillespie seven minutes into the quarter and the JackJumpers scored another 19 points up the other end to lead 64-44 by three quarter-time.

New Zealand already beat what they did in the third quarter with four points in the opening minute of the fourth but there would be no comeback with a Craig Sword three ball and Majok Deng pushing the lead out to 24 with 7:45 to play.

Tasmania didn’t let up from there with Anthony Drmic stretching the lead to 26, Deng hit a free-throw to make it 27 and eventually the JackJumpers scored the 19-point win.

The JackJumpers remain home to play host to the Brisbane Bullets to open Round 9 on Friday night while the Breakers remain on the road against the Cairns Taipans on Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 83 (Crawford 19, Sword 18, Deng 18)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 64 (Jackson-Cartwright 15, Mennenga 13, Gillespie 8, Lopez 8)

BOX SCORE