Mitsubishi Match Recap: Hungry Jack’s NBL26 - Round 15 v Tasmania JackJumpers

Melbourne United have gone down on the road to the Tasmania JackJumpers in their lone game of Round 15.

It was a slow start for United, who went scoreless across the opening two minutes before Chris Goulding worked his way to the hoop for a layup.

Tyson Walker followed suit on the next possession before Goulding made an impact from deep, sinking his first three of the game.

Playing in his 100th NBL game, Kyle Bowen got on the board early, making a floater to keep Melbourne in the lead.

The JackJumpers were able to hit back, retaking the lead, however a quick seven-point swing on the back of five more points from Walker and a mid-range turnaround from Dash Daniels gave the visitors the advantage back.

Unfortunately for United, the rollercoaster term favoured the JackJumpers, who went ahead 16-19 to close the first.

Walker, Bowen and Tanner Krebs all found success to start the second, however a 10-0 run from Tasmania put Melbourne on the backfoot.

Jesse Edwards made his impact known on the offensive end, throwing down a pair of jams to stop the lead from growing larger.

Outside of this, it was Walker who kept Melbourne in the game, tallying 13 points in the half and injecting much-needed pace into the contest.

This helped United claw back within nine points, still trailing 35-44 at the major break.

Coming out of half time, points were hard to come by for Melbourne, with another Goulding three-ball the team’s only field goal until Fabijan Krslovic hit the offensive glass for a tip in.

Edwards, Walker and Doyle all pressured inside, getting to the free throw line, however the JackJumpers looked to have worked their way into a solid groove, going ahead by as many as 16 points.

A tough late layup from Doyle and triple from Daniels brought the margin back to 13 heading into the final period.

Needing to showcase some urgency, United got to work immediately, with cutting the lead to eight points through Krebs and Doyle.

It was all about stringing together stops, which Melbourne were able to do for stretches, and following another Krebs layup and Bowen and-one finish, had them within six points.

Tasmania answered once again, scoring seven unanswered points of their own, however little by little United crept closer.

Two more threes from Doyle and one from Walker all of a sudden had Melbourne in reach of tying the game, trailing by just five points.

This would unfortunately be as close as the visitors would come to completing the comeback, as a late three from Tasmania sealed their victory.

United will next take the floor on Wednesday 7 January in Bendigo for a thrilling Ignite Cup matchup against the Cairns Taipans from 7:30pm.

Tickets are available here and Bendigo Memberships remain available here.

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