Gutsy South East Melbourne Phoenix defy odds to beat Tasmania JackJumpers
Tasmania’s Will Magnay blocks the drive of Phoenix’s Ben Ayre on Hobart on Monday. Photo: Getty
Christmas Day basketball in the NBL has inspired South East Melbourne Phoenix to a morale-boosting performance full of heart to upset the Tasmania JackJumpers 85-77 in Hobart.
The NBL double-header for Christmas Day was greeted by a sold-out crowd at MyState Bank Arena and the odds were stacked against Phoenix.
Phoenix arrived on the back of losing its past three matches to Melbourne, Illawarra and Cairns by a combined 75 points.
To top that off it was still missing captain Mitch Creek, along with Craig Moller and Gorjok Gak.
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Star centre Alan Williams also collected a fourth foul early in the second quarter, and 320-game veteran Reuben Te Rangi went down with a lower leg injury.
If that wasn’t enough, Phoenix was up against the second-placed JackJumpers, who were on their home floor in special Christmas uniforms with a raucous crowd behind them, but South East Melbourne just wouldn’t be denied.
The offence didn’t flow for Phoenix as it ended up shooting 26-of-77 from the field at 33 per cent with 6-of-25 from deep, but this was a performance full of heart and character.
To Williams’ credit, he started the second half and played out the rest of the game to have a significant impact with 11 points and six rebounds, but he had terrific help.
South East Melbourne got to the foul line 29 times and made 27 while out-rebounding Tasmania 55 to 40, including racking up a monstrous 24 offensive boards for 22 second-chance points.
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Phoenix was in control most of the way, but the JackJumpers kept making charges, including back-to-back threes from Jordon Crawford and Jack McVeigh going into half-time to lead 40-39.
However, when Gary Browne hit back-to-back threes to start the fourth quarter, Phoenix was back up by five and held firm from there for the gutsy win to improve to 9-9 on the season.
Browne finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, with new signing Abdel Nader adding 20 points and seven boards on 11-of-12 field goal shooting, despite 4-of-15 from the field.
The JackJumpers are now 10-8, despite 20 points from Jack McVeigh, 18 from Milton Doyle and 12 from Crawford with eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
-AAP
