Milton Doyle and the Tasmania JackJumpers have ended their NBL scoring woes, but it still wasn’t quite enough at RAC Arena with the Perth Wildcats prevailing 88-82.
The JackJumpers put up 51 points in the first half and Doyle ended the night with 30 points and four assists with 6-of-12 long-range shooting, but the reigning champs fell short on Thursday night.
Tasmania were averaging a league-low 76.6 points this season and arrived fresh off a franchise record low of 60 in a 28-point loss in Sydney to the Kings.
The Wildcats were also looking to hit back from a 24-point loss to the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Sunday, and both teams put on a shooting spectacle in the first half.
Doyle and Jordon Crawford combined to shoot 1-of-25 from three-point range in the two games for Tasmania last weekend, but they went 8-of-13 in the first half alone.
Doyle hit six of those for 20 points to halftime during which Tasmania scored 51 points - just nine off their total on Sunday for the entire game, and only 25 off their season average.
But Perth were shooting impressively too as the two teams combined to go 21-of-39 from long range in the first half.
Elijah Pepper (14 points) helped Perth to a seven-point lead to start the second half but the JackJumpers kept responding to every challenge even after Todd Withers (12 points, 4-of-4 from deep) made his fourth three-pointer with just under five minutes to play.
Tasmania were down seven but Doyle scored eight straight points himself to put his team back in front only for the momentum to swing back decisively Perth's way.
Seven straight points from Keanu Pinder (13 points, seven rebounds), Pepper, Tai Webster (14 points, six assists) and Kristian Doolittle (18 points, 12 boards) delivered the 'Cats the win thsat improves their record to 5-5.
Wildcats coach John Rillie liked the fight from his team to grind it out.
"I was most happy with just how we stuck with it for the 40 minutes," he said.
"We stuck with it and obviously were a lot more disciplined in containing their shooters so that really helped us, but when we win games we have multiple guys making winning plays and it was a nice little cameo by Withers."
The JackJumpers have lost three straight now to be 3-8 but will take heart from the performance, especially as they again missed Olympian Will Magnay with a shoulder injury.
Crawford finished with 14 points and four assists while Anthony Drmic added 11 points and four rebounds, and 340-game veteran Reuben Te Rangi eight points and eight boards.
"We had really good fight right across the board and it was just timely plays down the last two or three minutes where we couldn’t execute," said JackJumpers coach Scott Roth.
"All those little things add up and they made those plays down the stretch, which obviously got them across the line."
