United Dig Deep to Beat JackJumpers in Hobart

Sunday, January 8, 2023

Melbourne United dug deep and kept their NBL23 playoff aspirations alive by delivering a strong second half to beat the Tasmania JackJumpers 92-85 on Saturday at MyState Bank Arena.

Things appeared conspiring against Melbourne as they arrived in Hobart having lost their past four matches against the JackJumpers dating back to last season's semi-final match up.

Then in the first quarter they lost key front court pair Isaac Humphries (knee) and David Barlow (concussion), but it wouldn’t deter them even if they allowed the JackJumpers plenty more looks from the offensive glass.

Tasmania ended up taking 13 extra field goals for the game than Melbourne, but United were aggressive in ending up going 26/31 from the foul line to 14/17.

Melbourne was able to blow the game open late in the third quarter and a triple from Chris Goulding on three quarter-time put them up eight.

That lead was out to 13 when he hit another from downtown to start the fourth and even though the JackJumpers kept fighting and got back as close as four, Melbourne had the answers to win by seven.

It's a crucial win to keep Melbourne's playoff hopes alive at 11-12 now with just five games remaining while the JackJumpers are only just ahead at 11-10.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rayjon Tucker celebrates in ?????!<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/yA20RPf46j">pic.twitter.com/yA20RPf46j</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1611643082692493313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Chris Goulding top-scored for United with 23 points on 5/11 shooting from deep but it was Marcus Lee who came up huge with 22 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks on 11/13 shooting.

Rayjon Tucker added 11 points, four rebounds and three assists, Xavier Rathan-Mayes 10 points, three boards and two assists, and Shea Ili 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds.

United coach Dean Vickerman was delighted with how they handled the atmosphere in Hobart and were aggressive in attacking the JackJumpers' pressure defence.

"We try not to oversell about how tough it is to play down here and we just kind of talked about the crowd noise, and how we can communicate better as a group," Vickerman said.

"I thought we huddled up pretty well and showed a good resilience. They're always going to fight back and make runs at you, but I thought that little patch after half-time where we established a lead and were able to hold on to it and play the type of defence that we wanted to play.

"For us we've been hunting really good three-point shots and this was the lowest number we've shot in a long time, but we attacked their pressure and that allowed us to get to the foul line which was a big factor."

Milton Doyle didn’t score his first points until midway through the second quarter, but ended up with 20 for Tasmania including 13 in the fourth.

Jack McVeigh added 18 points too for Tasmania with 3/4 three-point shooting while Will Magnay contributed 10 points, four rebounds and two blocks, and Isaac White nine points.

JackJumpers coach Scott Roth just felt sending United to the line as often as they did was a critical factor in the result.

"I thought it was a heck of a game and congratulations to them, they played fantastic," Roth said.

"They have championship pedigree and Dean's a hell of a coach, and now that their roster's back in tact they're a handful. I thought it was just a good, physical game that was back and forth there, and quite competitive which was great.

"They just made a lot of really good plays and hustle plays, made some key shots which is always important. More importantly was our foul discipline and again it was a problem for us.

"When we get into the numbers that we got into and they had shot 28 foul shots by the end of the third. That's a recipe for disaster for us to walk them to the line that many times."

It was a cold opening from the JackJumpers who went scoreless for nearly four minutes and missed their opening eight shots, but Melbourne couldn’t take full advantage aside from a bucket to Isaac Humphries and three ball to Chris Goulding.

Eventually Tasmania scored courtesy of a Jarrad Weeks three-pointer at almost four minutes into the contest.

The JackJumpers worked their way on top and it was largely through the possession game. Rashard Kelly collected four of his team's seven offensive rebounds, which helped them take an extra 10 field goals and when Jack McVeigh converted a four-point play just before quarter-time, Tasmania led 20-17.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Milton Doyle is ??????.<br><br>13 points in the last quarter - he's nowhere near done here ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/8E1pl2RNrz">pic.twitter.com/8E1pl2RNrz</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1611641206316109824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It was Marcus Lee keeping United in touch for much of the second quarter having an impact around the rim on both ends of the floor in the absence of Humphries and David Barlow.

Milton Doyle kept Tasmania narrowly in front with his first bucket of the game midway through the second quarter before Will Magnay made a three-point play out of a huge dunk over Lee and Shea Ili.

Despite the JackJumpers continuing to dominate the offensive glass with 11 o-boards to three by half-time which saw them take an extra 15 field goals, United stayed in touch.

Melbourne ended up taking 14 free-throws to six for the half and with 10 points and three blocks to Lee, United managed to level things up with the JackJumpers at 44-44 at the main break.

Tasmania were back up two midway through the third quarter when Isaac White drained a three on a picture perfect play, but Melbourne continued to be aggressive going to the rim and kept being rewarded.

Five consecutive free-throws from Goulding and Ili helped them lead by five and by three quarter-time the visitors had the biggest lead of the game up 71-63.

Melbourne then came out hot to start the fourth and when Goulding dropped another three, it silenced the home crowd and it was a 13-point ball game.

Tasmania did respond immediately with consecutive three balls to Doyle but United continued to have all the answers and were soon back up double-digits after a triple from Brad Newley.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shea Ili's pass ????, but Marcus Lee flew higher ??<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/bKhBE0ZgHm">pic.twitter.com/bKhBE0ZgHm</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1611635389059706880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Another dunk from Lee on the nice drive and dish from Tucker maintained that 10-point lead with six minutes to play, but as expected, Tasmania didn’t go away. McVeigh's three had them back within seven.

Doyle hit another bomb too to bring it back to four but then with 38 seconds to go, Lee putback an offensive rebound to keep Melbourne on top by six before they went on to win by seven.

Tasmania's next game is Tuesday night on the road to the Illawarra Hawks while Melbourne head to Christchurch to take on the New Zealand Breakers on Thursday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 14

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 85 (Doyle 20, McVeigh 18, Magnay 10)

MELBOURNE UNITED 92 (Goulding 23, Lee 22, Tucker 11)

BOX SCORE