Short turnaround catches up with JackJumpers

The Tasmania JackJumpers couldn’t quite back up Wednesday's impressive home win with the New Zealand Breakers winning 82-65 on Friday night but they now can look forward to nine days before their next NBL game.

The JackJumpers were tremendous in their homecoming on Wednesday beating the Sydney Kings by 16 points but it was a tough quick turnaround to facing the Breakers at Spark Arena on Friday who hadn’t played since hosting the South East Melbourne Phoenix back on Sunday.

Tasmania did start the game well with a 14-6 opening but New Zealand were able to work on top from there and end up winning by 17 points with the JackJumpers now 4-3 for the season following the opening seven matches of which five have been on the road.

Along with taking 25 fewer field goals than New Zealand for the game, Tasmania also shot just 39 per cent from the field and 26 per cent from three along with only making 12/21 at the free-throw line.

JackJumpers captain Will Magnay finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two blocks with front court partner Josh Bannan having another 10 points and eight boards.

Bryce Hamilton finished with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists with Ben Ayre hitting 3/4 from downtown for 11 points while Nick Marshall had eight points, three boards and three assists, Tyger Campbell six points and four assists, and Nick Stoddart three points, two rebounds and two assists.

New Zealand were able to win the game despite shooting 2/26 from beyond the arc largely thanks to the 19 offensive rebounds while only having a record low two assists which helped them end up with the 25 more shot attempts.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright finished with 21 points and six assists for the winners with Izaiah Brockington adding 17 points and six rebounds, and Sam Mennenga 12 points and eight boards.

Tasmania arrived fresh off beating Sydney on Wednesday and started strongly opening up a 14-6 advantage on the back of seven straight points including a three ball to Bryce Hamilton.

New Zealand were able to steady, though, and closed out the rest of the first quarter outscoring Tasmania 14 points to four including scoring the last six points to be leading 20-18.

The Breakers then kept that momentum rolling with a dominant start to the second quarter by scoring the first 12 points courtesy of Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Max Darling, Sam Mennenga and Carlin Davison.

That saw New Zealand open up a 32-18 lead with the JackJumpers also missing four free-throw attempts and not scoring until almost six minutes into the quarter when Hamilton stopped the rot.

The JackJumpers then did outscore the Breakers 11-8 from there and despite New Zealand's dominance for about a 10-minute stretch of play, they were only leading 40-31 by the half-time break.

New Zealand pushed back out to a double-figure lead with the first four points of the second half before another 10-0 run including their first two three-pointers of the game saw their lead get out to 19.

That turned into a 21-point advantage for the home team by three quarter-time and the JackJumpers did keep fighting it out including Ben Ayre hitting three triples before fouling out.

Nick Marshall then scored eight points in the final term too but New Zealand were never seriously threatened and went on to win by 17.

After a challenging start to the season including playing at home this week on Wednesday and then away in New Zealand on Friday, the JackJumpers now don't play again until next Sunday when they do remain away from home against the Sydney Kings.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 65 (Magnay 14, Hamilton 13, Ayre 11)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 82 (Jackson-Cartwright 21, Brockington 17, Mennenga 12)

BOX SCORE