Cheatham soars as Sixers win in Tassie

The Adelaide 36ers wasted no time rebounding from a home loss to Perth with Zylan Cheatham producing his best performance of NBL26 as they handed the Tasmania JackJumpers a fifth straight loss, winning 97-86.

The JackJumpers were always up against it at MyState Bank Arena despite the home crowd behind them in the absence of Will Magnay, Anthony Drmic and David Johnson, and the 36ers took full advantage with Cheatham showing the way.

He already had 16 points by half-time with Adelaide up 14 with the lead growing to as much as 28 but the JackJumpers wouldn't go away.

Adelaide didn’t hit a field goal in the fourth quarter for eight minutes and the JackJumpers chipped away to get back as close as seven before the 36ers held on for the 11-point win.

Cheatham finished with a season-best 27 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and two blocks with 3/4 three-point shooting and 9/12 overall.

Sharpshooting co-captain DJ Vasiljevic lost his starting spot to Matt Kenyon for the 36ers but contributed 14 points off the bench. That included an individual scoring run of 11 consecutive points late in the third quarter.

Kenyon stepped in to start ahead of Vasiljevic and did a tremendous defensive job on Tasmania's leading scorer Bryce Hamilton, who finished with just 12 points on 4/11 shooting.

Bryce Cotton had to deal with close checking from the JackJumpers, finishing with 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists - as well as four turnovers on 2/10 shooting.

But Adelaide still had six players scoring in double-digits with Flynn Cameron having 11 points and three rebounds, Nick Rakocevic 11 points and seven boards, and Isaac Humphries 10 points, six rebounds and four blocks.

The JackJumpers have now lost all five matches in Tasmania in this current home stand to be 5-8 on the season despite Tyger Campbell producing 20 points and three assists with 4/6 three-point shooting.

Majok Deng also put up 17 points and eight rebounds with 3/5 three-point shooting, Josh Bannan 16 points and 14 rebounds, and Nick Marshall 12 points, six boards and four assists.

But they were no match for Cheatham, who landed a pair of big threes before the quarter-time buzzer to put Adelaide on a 10-0 run.

The Sixers led 26-15 at that stage and the margin ballooned to 18 points during the second period as Cheatham's 16 first-half points kept them in control.

Tasmania saw Bannan and Ben Ayre foul out late but refused to give in, and cut the deficit back to single figures multiple times in the final three minutes.

But the Sixers steadied late to seal their fifth win in six away games this season.

The JackJumpers now don't play again until taking on the Wildcats in Perth next Friday night while the 36ers are back home to host the Cairns Taipans this Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 86 (Campbell 20, Deng 17, Bannan 16)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 97 (Cheatham 27, Vasiljevic 14, Cotton 12)

BOX SCORE