Magnay dominates as JackJumpers beat United

Will Magnay dominated all night and then shut the door on Melbourne United with the dagger three-pointer in the last minute as the Tasmania JackJumpers had a standout home showing to win 84-75.

The JackJumpers were back at MyState Bank Arena for a first home game of 2026 on the back of closing 2025 beating the South East Melbourne Phoenix back on Monday night.

Tasmania then worked on top of Melbourne early and ended up leading most of the night including by as much as 16 points, and still by 13 midway through the final term.

Melbourne still kept fighting including 25 points in the fourth quarter with three triples from former JackJumper Milton Doyle, but Tasmania had the answers and it was Magnay who closed the door with his dominant performance capped off with a third three-pointer of the season with 35 seconds left.

There was a lot to like in the all-round performance from the JackJumpers as they made 14/18 at the foul line after the recent struggles, pulled down 15 offensive rebounds and had just the seven turnovers with 20 assists for the game.

Magnay produced what was likely the best performance of 153-game NBL career with the career-high in both points (27) and minutes (36:26).

To go with that, he also pulled down 13 rebounds including six at the offensive end to go with three blocked shots and two steals.

Josh Bannan also had another 14 points with six rebounds and four assists while David Johnson contributed 11 points and three boards, Nick Marshall 10 points, five rebounds and two assists, and Bryce Hamilton 10 points, two boards and two assists.

Tyger Campbell also had eight points, eight assists and three rebounds, Majok Deng two points, three boards and two blocks, and Nick Stoddart two points and an assist.

Tyson Walker finished with 20 points, three rebounds and two assists for Melbourne with Milton Doyle adding 17 points and six assists despite 6/15 shooting on his second return as a visitor to MyState Bank Arena.

The JackJumpers started impressively scoring the first five points of the game through Josh Bannan and Will Magnay which set the tone for the rest of the evening.

Melbourne answered with the next seven points before Tasmania soon answered with their own 6-0 run, and then closed the opening period with the last six points from Majok Deng, Nick Stoddart and Magnay to go into quarter-time on top 19-16.

Magnay then scored the first four points of the second quarter to push the Tasmania lead out to seven points, and then the JackJumpers went on a 10-0 run with Magnay and David Johnson scoring four of those points each.

That saw the lead get out to 12 points and it was still a 44-35 advantage by half-time for the home team on the back of 10 more rebounds, six more offensive boards, getting to the foul line eight more times and with a combined 25 points and eight boards from Magnay and Bannan.

The JackJumpers pushed out to a 15-point lead early in the third quarter after opening up the second half going on a 10-4 run too and that lead was still at 63-50 by three quarter-time.

Melbourne were always going to make a run in the fourth quarter and they did put up 25 points with Milton Doyle landed three triples of his own, but the JackJumpers kept on having the answers.

Bryce Hamilton hit a couple of three-pointers of his own and Nick Marshall made another, and then it was Magnay that topped off his night in style with the sealing long ball with 35 seconds on the clock.

The JackJumpers have now just completed a run of playing six games in the past 14 days and get a chance to take a breath ahead of heading to Adelaide to take on the 36ers on Friday night.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 84 (Magnay 27, Bannan 14, Johnson 11)

MELBOURNE UNITED 75 (Walker 20, Doyle 17, Bowen 9)

BOX SCORE