JackJumpers lose thriller to G League United

Photo: fiba.basketball

Jordon Crawford and Milton Doyle combined for 47 points and even though the Tasmania JackJumpers lost to the G League United 76-74 at the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, they showed plenty of their trademark grit.

The two teams were playing for a spot in Sunday's final in Singapore against Spanish club Unicaja and even though the JackJumpers fell down by as much as 14 points, they showed plenty of their fighting spirit.

So much so that they were a winning position after a big three for a four-point lead late from Crawford, but the G League team fired back and iced the game with two free throws at the death from Brodric Thomas.

Crawford had a big performance for Tasmania with 24 points, six rebounds and three assists with 5/9 three-point shooting while Doyle added 23 points, seven boards and four assists.

Will Magnay also had 10 points, five assists, four rebounds and three blocks, Craig Sword seven points and two boards, and Majok Deng seven points and seven rebounds.

Charlie Brown top-scored for G League United with 23 points.

It was a slow start to the contest from both teams with it taking more than two minutes for Jordon Crawford to land the game's first bucket when he knocked down a three in transition on the set up pass from Anthony Drmic.

G League United ended up making three consecutive long-range bombs to lead at 20-11 by the end of one but both teams were able to find more of an offensive flow in the second period.

Both teams were able to score 24 points apiece in the second term with G League United leading 44-35 by the half-time break but the signs were more encouraging at the offensive end for Tasmania.

By the break, Milton Doyle had 16 points with Will Magnay and Crawford adding eight points each, and that trio is going to be the big determiners on how the JackJumpers NBL championship defence goes.

Tasmania managed another 23 points in the third quarter to cut the deficit to four heading into the fourth term, and then Craig Sword had a purple patch. He scored under the bucket on a nice move on the inbounds pass, before finished in transition and was fouled hard.

Things were still tight before Crawford made two tough contested shots to help the JackJumpers to a four-point lead, one a triple and the other a floater, but still scores were tied with the shot clock turned off and G League in possession.

Eventually Brodric Thomas was fouled attacking the basket with 1.8 seconds to go. He made both with Tasmania calling the timeout but the pass from Doyle intended inside for Magnay didn’t find the target.

The JackJumpers will have another game on Sunday to finish the Intercontinental Cup before then heading to Perth ahead of Thursday's season opener against Melbourne United.

FIBA INTERCONTINENTAL CUP – SINGAPORE 2024

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 74 (Crawford 24, Doyle 23, Magnay 10)

G LEAGUE UNITED 76 (Brown 23, Thomas 12, Burton 11)

BOX SCORE