WWAG Match Recap: NBL24 Round 22 vs Tasmania JackJumpers

Melbourne United have suffered their first loss of the season, falling in a nail-biter against the Tasmania JackJumpers.

In front of a sold-out John Cain Arena crowd for The Grassroots Game, Chris Goulding sent the United fans into a frenzy by knocking down a three-pointer for the game’s first points.

Luke Travers followed this up with his own highlight on the defensive end, swatting away a shot at the hoop.

Looking to make his presence felt inside, Ariel Hukporti took it strong to the hoop on his touches, finishing an and-1 layup and a monster dunk to put the exclamation mark on a 8-0 United run.

While things were looking strong for the home side, the JJs refused to go away, remaining in striking distance to close the first quarter.

Hukporti kept up his aggressive approach to start the second period, throwing down another jam to open the term.

Matthew Dellavedova then got in on the action in the paint, spinning and scoring around the rim before another CG43 triple put United up by seven points.

When Tasmania hit back with a 7-0 run of their own to tie the game, it was who else but Goulding knocking down another triple to break their momentum and hold off the JJs for the remainder of the period, as Melbourne took a 36-35 lead into half time.

Coming out of the major break each team battled hard to take control of the game, with Tasmania taking their first lead of the game since the opening minutes.

Tanner Krebs quickly ended that, cashing in from deep to put United back in front before Big A took to the sky for a high-flying alley-oop.

While Melbourne’s defence was strong, costly turnovers stopped them from breaking the game open, despite Ian Clark connecting on his first two field-goals as an MU player.

Still, United looked to be in a strong position to finish the contest following a Rob Loe block to end the quarter with a 61-53 advantage.

Needing to stay composed, Melbourne looked as though they were doing everything right in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, pulling ahead by as many as 13 points thanks to some nice plays from the Likes of Travers, Loe and Clark.

However, they failed to slow down JackJumpers star Milton Doyle in the final five minutes, with the American connecting on four three-pointers to push the visitors into the lead with less than 30 seconds remaining.

Needing a decisive bucket, United couldn’t connect on their final few attempts, ultimately going down by five points.

The team will look to regroup heading into their next game, a road matchup with the Perth Wildcats on Friday evening.

Fans can tune into the game on ESPN via Kayo from 9:30pm.