Mitsubishi Match Recap: NBL25 Round 19 v Tasmania JackJumpers

Melbourne United have completed a comeback victory against the Tasmania JackJumpers in their first home game in 40 days.

While United were able to start the game off hot, with Rob Loe, Shea Ili and Chris Goulding finding the bottom of the net from deep, turnovers gave the advantage to the JackJumpers in the first quarter.

Six giveaways created extra opportunities for the visitors, many of which they turned into trips to the free-throw line.

Tasmania were able to make 11 of their 12 attempts from the stripe, helping to put United behind 21-32 after 10 minutes.

Looking to claw their way back, Dean Vickerman’s men started to find a rhythm.

Kyle Bowen provided great minutes off the bench, Ian Clark added five quick points, and Loe came away with a couple of big blocked shots.

This reduced the deficit to just six points, however the JackJumpers were able to answer, pushing back their lead back out to 16.

Ili and Goulding stole back some of the momentum heading into halftime, sinking a pair of triples to cut the margin to 10 points.

Bowen and Ili brought the intensity from the opening seconds of the second half, with the former swatting a shot and the latter scoring a layup, before swiping a steal and feeding Bowen for another finish at the hoops.

While this had United’s crowd up and about, the JackJumpers answered, not allowing the home side within six points of tying the game.

Marcus Lee did his best to provide a boost, tipping in a put-back and swatting a shot at the other end, however Melbourne remained behind by nine points with one period to go.

Across the first four minutes of the final term, the five man lineup of Loe, Ili, Bowen, Ian Clark and Tanner Krebs turned the game on its head.

The quintet orchestrated a 12-0 run, with each bucket and each stop sending the crowd more and more crazy.

Despite this, the game still came down to the final few possessions, where Melbourne’s struggles at the free throw line came back to bite them, leaving crucial points and providing Tasmania with a final chance to tie or win the contest.

With the game on the line, Shea Ili put the clamps on, tipping the ball away to secure the 94-92 victory.

United will be back for one final regular season game at John Cain Arena next Saturday February 8 at 8pm against the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Throwdown XXVIII.