Bullets fight back not quite enough in Tasmania

The Brisbane Bullets gave a fourth quarter fight back their best shot but ultimately it wasn’t quite enough with the defending champion Tasmania JackJumpers scoring the 95-86 home victory.

The Bullets had the quick turnaround from playing at home on Friday night in a loss to the Illawarra Hawks to taking on a JackJumpers team on a seven-game winning streak on Sunday afternoon at MyState Bank Arena.

Tasmania opened up a 15-point lead in the second half and while the Bullets did fight back and got within six late in the piece, they couldn’t quite get over the hump.

Brisbane now sits on a 9-10 record with 10 matches remaining with the absence of Rocco Zikarsky and Deng Adel not helping with Jarred Bairstow, Sam McDaniel and James Batemon already having their seasons ended.

The Bullets did a good job getting to the foul line throughout the game going 24/31 as a team with Keandre Cook ending up top-scoring with 20 points, three rebounds and three steals.

Casey Prather produced another 18 points and seven rebounds with Josh Bannan contributing 17 points and six boards, Tyrell Harrison 15 points and 12 rebounds, Isaac White nine points, three boards and two assists, and Mitch Norton four points and six assists.

Milton Doyle ended up top-scoring for Tasmania with 23 points while Anthony Drmic added 19, Majok Deng 16, Jordon Crawford 13 and Sean Macdonald 10.

Tyrell Harrison did open the game's scoring but the JackJumpers got the better of the start to open up an 11-5 lead before the Bullets scored eight straight points including three-pointers to Keandre Cook and Isaac White.

Josh Bannan then scored two buckets for Brisbane and Harrison scored twice on the inside, but it was Tasmania clinging to the narrow 22-21 advantage at quarter-time after a score on the buzzer from Majok Deng.

After falling eight points down early in the second frame, the Bullets did work back into the contest. It was a four-point play from White who was fouled making a three-pointer that had them back within three.

However, Tasmania managed to open up a 10-point lead just before half-time and were still up by the break on the back of 12 offensive rebounds for 14 second chance points with Brisbane staying in touch on the back of getting to the line 15 times.

The Bullets only managed two field goals the entire third quarter for just the 14 points but it was a three-point play to close things out from Bannan that at least kept them within striking distance with the JackJumpers leading by 12.

Brisbane had closed the deficit to just seven early in the fourth quarter with Bannan and Keandre Cook knocking down three-pointers, and Prather completing an and-one play.

Tasmania responded to again open up a 13-point advantage, but the Bullets continued to fight back and four straight points to Cook and a triple to Prather made it a six-point game with just under three minutes to play.

That would be as close as Brisbane could get with Tasmania holding on for the eventual nine-point home victory.

The Bullets now have six days before being back in action in NBL25 when they are at home to the Sydney Kings on Saturday night at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

BRISBANE BULLETS 86 (Cook 20, Prather 18, Bannan 17)

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 95 (Doyle 23, Drmic 19, Deng 16)

BOX SCORE