Crawford stars as JackJumpers beat Breakers

Jordon Crawford has nailed 30 points to lead the Tasmania JackJumpers to a crushing 97-80 New Zealand.

Jordon Crawford has nailed 30 points to lead the Tasmania JackJumpers to a crushing 97-80 win over the New Zealand Breakers in Auckland.

The JackJumpers arrived at Spark Arena without MVP fancy Milton Doyle following the passing of his father while import centre Marcus Lee lasted little more than two minutes before coach Scott Roth pulled him out and didn't go back to him.

Despite virtually being without two imports, the JackJumpers produced a brilliant all-round performance highlighted by outrebounding the Breakers 60 to 34 including pulling down a massive 25 offensive boards for 21 second chance points.

The Breakers were left to rue a woeful second quarter in Saturday's match in which they were restricted to just eight points.

New Zealand was unable to overcome the 17-point half-time margin, with Crawford nailing two consecutive three-pointers during the third term to kill off the home side's challenge.

Crawford finished with six triples for the match, while Jack McVeigh was also crucial with 20 points and seven rebounds.

Crawford's display was all the more important given the JackJumpers were without import Milton Doyle, who flew back to the US to attend his father's funeral.

"Condolences to Milton. He's my guy," Crawford told Sky Sports post-game.

"My teammates told me to be aggressive all week. They said whatever happens, we're going to have your back and we're going to ride with you.

"Kudos to them, they just trusted me and had confidence in me."

The Breakers were well served by import Parker Jackson-Cartwright (25 points, six assists), while Anthony Lamb overcame early foul trouble to post 15 points and nine rebounds. New Zealand continues to sorely miss key pair Zylan Cheatham and Will McDowell-White.

The opening term was a head-to-head scoring showdown between Crawford and Jackson-Cartwright.

Crawford scored 16 points for the quarter, while Jackson-Cartwright returned serve with 13 to inspire a 15-3 run for the Breakers after a slow start.

The highlight of the quarter belonged to JackJumpers captain Mcveigh, who nailed a buzzer-beater from three-quarter court to give his side a 26-24 lead at the first break.

The JackJumpers busted the game wide open in early the second term with a 15-0 run, restricting New Zealand to just eight points for the quarter.

The dominant defensive display gave the visitors a 49-32 lead at half-time.

The JackJumpers dominated the rebound count 33-18 in the first half, including a 13-2 edge in offensive boards.

The second half was an even battle, with the JackJumpers finding the answer every time the Breakers challenged.

Crawford added the icing on the cake with an off-balance three-pointer in the dying moments of the match, with the American eyeing off the Breakers bench straight after to show them who was boss.

The result improved second-placed Tasmania's record to 9-5, while the Breakers are equal last at 4-9.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 10

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 80 (Jackson-Cartwright 25, Lamb 15, Mathiang 11)

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 97 (Crawford 30, McVeigh 20, Deng 14)

BOX SCORE