Grit and grind of JackJumpers on full show

Without three of their most important players and after an emotional 48 hours, the Tasmania JackJumpers showed tremendous heart against the defending NBL champions even if the Illawarra Hawks ended up winning 101-91.

The JackJumpers were building some impressive momentum eight days ago before a tight loss in Perth to Melbourne United where they lost captain Will Magnay to a toe injury in the last two minutes.

If that wasn’t bad enough, in Sydney on Friday night Majok Deng suffered a nasty concussion and then Bryce Hamilton ruptured his ACL to join Magnay and Sean Macdonald with season-ending injuries.

They then hosted a fresh, healthy and motivated Hawks team at MyState Bank Arena on Friday night, and even if Sam Froling and JaVale McGee proved tough to contain, the JackJumpers did the state of Tasmania proud all night.

Despite falling down 15 points in the second quarter and 13 again in the third, the JackJumpers got back within five in the fourth frame and fought right to the end.

Without Deng and Magnay up front and against the quality, size and experience of the Hawks bigs, it was a big task for Josh Bannan and Archie Woodhill but both battled manfully.

Bannan produced 26 points and eight rebounds on 12/22 shooting in his 35 minutes, and while Woodhill's numbers might not jump out with two points and three rebounds, in his 16 minutes the JackJumpers were a +4 against the Hawks.

David Johnson also stepped up to score 21 points with eight rebounds, four assists and two steals coming into the starting five in place of Hamilton.

Anthony Drmic had his best performance of the season in his third game back from a back injury with 13 points and three rebounds with 3/5 shooting from behind the three-point arc.

Ben Ayre added 12 points and three rebounds, Nick Marshall nine points, seven assists, five boards and three steals, and Tyger Campbell eight points and two assists.

Hawks big men JaVale McGee (23 point, eight rebounds, two blocks) and Sam Froling (16 points, three boards) had a significant impact as expected on a combined 17/21 shooting.

QJ Peterson also had 19 points, six assists and five rebounds, Davo Hickey 15 points and six assists, and Daniel Grida 12 points on 6/6 field goal shooting.

David Johnson opened the scoring for Tasmania before Josh Bannan knocked down a three ball, and then Archie Woodhill mopped up a missed free-throw from Nick Marshall to score.

The JackJumpers were then leading 10-5 when Tyger Campbell also got on the board with Johnson nailing a three-pointer before quarter-time as did Anthony Drmic with the Hawks only narrowly leading 27-26 after one with impressive shooting displays from both teams.

Drmic then got on a roll for the first time in a frustrating season for him with Tasmania's first five points of the second quarter as well before Illawarra did opening up a 15-point lead by going on a 19-4 run including a couple more three balls to QJ Peterson.

The JackJumpers were able to respond with an 11-4 run of their own with four points each from Bannan and Campbell, and a three ball from Nick Marshall.

Illawarra still managed the last four points of the half including on the buzzer from JaVale McGee with the visitors leading 60-48 with 60 per cent shooting but the JackJumpers were valiant with a combined 23 points from Bannan and Drmic.

Johnson came out and scored the first five points of the second half and the JackJumpers kept on coming to have cut the Hawks lead back to just eight by three quarter-time.

Buckets to Bannan and Ben Ayre early in the fourth quarter had the JackJumpers back within six points, and when Johnson knocked down a third three-pointer for the game, it was just a five-point deficit.

While Tasmania couldn’t quite get closer than that and Illawarra did enough to secure the 10-point win, there was plenty to be heartened by with the fight and spirit shown from the JackJumpers against the odds.

The JackJumpers are now back on the road on Friday night to play the Cairns Taipans before a supremely short turnaround to hosting the New Zealand Breakers back at MyState Bank Arena on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26 – PRIDE ROUND

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 91 (Bannan 26, Johnson 21, Drmic 13)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 101 (McGee 23, Peterson 19, Froling 16)

BOX SCORE