JackJumpers light up and hold off Hawks

The Tasmania JackJumpers were able to light up the Illawarra Hawks again from beyond the arc and then survive their late charge for Sunday's 81-77 win at MyState Bank Arena.

While they couldn’t quite replicate the 22/42 three-point shooting performance of the last meeting with the Hawks in Wollongong, the JackJumpers weren’t far off and it was four triples to start the fourth quarter that looked to secure the important win.

The first two came from captain Clint Steindl who hit six threes in the game before Jack McVeigh and Josh Magette also connected to put Tasmania 17 points on top with less seven minutes remaining.

However, the game had a dramatic twist to come and all of a sudden when the Hawks gave the JackJumpers trouble with their full court press, they scored eight straight points including a Justinian Jessup to make it a two-point ball game.

The heat was on for the JJ's to steady and the cool head of Magette to find the cutting McVeigh to take it strong to the rack and convert it into a three-point play proved the match winning move with 24 seconds to go.

The win is a third in-a-row for the JackJumpers who improve to a 10-9 record on the season to stay right in the NBL playoff hunt with nine matches remaining.

JackJumpers captain Clint Steindl was instrumental in setting up the win with 20 points and two assists including shooting a stunning 6/9 from three-point territory.

Jack McVeigh had a big afternoon and finished the job for Tasmania with 19 points and six rebounds but there were plenty more strong contributors.

Josh Magette finished with 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds, Matt Kenyon eight points and 10 rebounds, Josh Adams seven points, six boards, four assists, two steals and two blocks, MiKyle McIntosh six points and four rebounds, and Jarrad Weeks six points and three assists.

JackJumpers coach Scott Roth was delighted with the result after the match on the back of Friday's win in Cairns.

"Obviously it was a heck of a win for us, we played really well for 35 minutes and then fatigue set in for those last five minutes," Roth said.

"It was extremely gritty, just a really big weekend for us. Our guys were relentless in the process of this. We followed the game-plan really well. These guys dug in defensively really well. These guys thrive on everyone else's performance except themselves."

Tyler Harvey finished with 16 points for Illawarra, Justinian Jessup 15, Antonius Cleveland 13 and Duop Reath 12.

It was a slow start on their home floor from the JackJumpers with the Hawks racing to a 9-2 lead with Antonius Cleveland scoring seven of those points, but they soon steadied starting with Jack McVeigh's second bucket.

His four points were the only scores for Tasmania in the first five minutes, but Josh Adams then converted a three-point play and Matt Kenyon scored to tie scores up, and by quarter-time the JackJumpers had assumed the 16-15 advantage.

Captain Clint Steindl then opened the second term with his second three-point make of the game. And when Jarrad Weeks joined the fun and Steindl knocked down another, it was a 9-2 run for the JackJumpers in the space of two minutes.

They didn’t take the foot off the gas either and closed the first half scoring the last 12 points including a triple from Josh Magette and three-point play for Kenyon. That gave the JackJumpers 31 points to 17 for the quarter and a 47-32 advantage going into half-time.

It was a good start to the second half as well from the JJ's with Adams hitting a three and the team scoring nine of the first 14 points to see that lead grow to 19 points.

The Hawks were never going to go down without a fight, though, and they were able to pull it back to a 10-point deficit by three quarter-time despite Weeks and Steindl each hitting another bomb from downtown.

The JackJumpers then appeared to put the game to bed with how they opened the fourth period. Steindl connected on two quick threes and then when McVeigh and Magette joined the three-point party, it was a 17-point lead with 6:50 on the clock.

However, the Hawks fired back scoring the next nine points. Then after a steadying bucket from MiKyle McIntosh, Illawarra turned up the heat with eight quick points topped by a Justinian Jessup triple.

That made it a two-point game with a minute to go. Eventually it was a beautiful pass from Magette to McVeigh for the layup and the extra that gave the JackJumpers some breathing space. 

They then broke the press trap on the last possession for another McVeigh score to secure the heart stopping yet impressive four-point win.

The JackJumpers are next in action on Saturday in a rematch with the Hawks, this time at The Silverdome in Launceston.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 15

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 81 (Steindl 20, McVeigh 19, Magette 11)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 77 (Harvey 16, Jessup 15, Cleveland 13) 

BOX SCORE