Tasmania JackJumpers Stun Phoenix in NBL Season Opener

The Tasmania JackJumpers opened their NBL27 campaign with a comeback win, a rules controversy and a reminder that Scott Roth’s team still knows exactly how to turn a game into a street fight when it matters.

In front of a sold-out MyState Bank Arena, the JackJumpers erased a 14-point halftime deficit to beat South East Melbourne Phoenix 96-91 on Sunday, a result that will be remembered as much for a late-game officiating twist as for Tasmania’s resilience.

Chaos in the final 30 seconds

Tasmania led 91-89 with 32 seconds left when the game lurched into confusion.

Phoenix import D’Shawn Schwartz hounded Nick Marshall up the floor, stripped him clean and looked to have produced the defensive play that could swing the contest. Marshall then fouled him, and after review the contact was upgraded to a disruptive foul under the new FIBA rules.

Two free throws. Chance to tie. Ball back. The door suddenly wide open for the visitors.

Then it blew shut.

Instead of Schwartz stepping to the line, import guard Skylar Mays walked up and took the ball. He appeared convinced he could shoot the free throws, as often happens on unsportsmanlike calls where any player can step in.

He couldn’t. Not under these rules.

FIBA regulations require the player who was fouled to take the shots on a disruptive foul. The officials didn’t catch it at first. Tasmania did.

From the JackJumpers bench, head coach Scott Roth and forward Josh Bannan immediately signalled that the wrong man was at the line. That challenge forced the officials to huddle and check the rulebook in real time.

By then, the damage for Phoenix was done.

Under FIBA rule 45.4.3, once the wrong player attempts a free throw, that attempt is cancelled and the penalty flips: the free throws are wiped and possession is awarded to the opposition for a throw-in from the free-throw line extended.

Exactly that happened. Phoenix lost the potential game-tying shots and the ball. Tasmania gained possession and control.

Head coach Josh King could only shake his head.

“Very confusing. I’ve never seen... I have to get some clarity behind it,” he said post-game, still trying to piece together the sequence.

“I think the way I understood it, they said it was our ball. It was two shots and the ball I think? I think what Skylar thought is anybody could shoot because it was a unsportsmanlike foul and we got the ball back. But then when Skylar went to the line, it wiped out everything.”

The key detail: Mays went to the stripe on his own. Had the referees instructed the wrong player to shoot, they could have corrected the error. Because he stepped up independently and attempted the free throw, rule 45.4.3 locked in. No review mechanism existed in the final two minutes to overturn it.

Just like that, Phoenix’s lifeline vanished, and Tasmania were effectively handed the chance to close it out.

King, though, refused to pin the loss on the incident.

“At the end of the day, that has nothing to do with the final result. You don’t want to put your team in this situation where we have to rely on a play like that. So that’s not what decided the game at all,” he said.

Roth chose not to comment on the controversy at all, leaving the rulebook debate to everyone else.

JackJumpers flip the script

Strip away the drama and the story is simple: Tasmania got punched in the first half and came back swinging.

Phoenix walked into the break up 52-38, their offence humming and the JackJumpers missing key rotation pieces Josh Bannan, Ben Ayre, Anthony Drmic and Bryce Hamilton. On paper, it looked like a night that might get away from the home side.

Roth’s teams don’t usually allow that.

Tasmania outscored South East Melbourne 58-39 after halftime, ratcheting up the defensive pressure and turning the game into the kind of grind they relish. Possessions slowed, bodies hit the floor, and every trip up the court began to feel like a test of nerve.

Import David Johnson owned the stage.

He finished with 26 points, six rebounds and six assists, torching Phoenix at 10-of-15 from the field and repeatedly finding answers when Tasmania needed a steadying basket. He didn’t just score; he steered the offence, punishing mismatches and making the right reads as the game tightened.

On debut, Taran Armstrong looked like he’d been in Roth’s system for years. The young guard poured in 19 points, attacking gaps and playing with a composure that belied the occasion.

Will Magnay, still on restricted minutes, made his time count. The big man added 14 points, four rebounds and six assists, anchoring the middle and giving Tasmania a playmaking hub at the elbows and above the rim.

The comeback wasn’t pretty. It rarely is in Hobart. But it was ruthless.

Phoenix let it slip

For South East Melbourne, the sting isn’t just the late call. It’s the collapse.

Up 14 at halftime, they had the JackJumpers on the ropes. Angus Glover had ignited the first-half surge, coming off the bench to drop 21 points by night’s end, stretching the floor and punishing any defensive lapse.

Mays, at the heart of the late drama, produced 18 points, six rebounds and two assists. For long stretches he controlled tempo and looked every bit the import guard Phoenix hoped he’d be.

Then Tasmania tightened the screws.

Phoenix’s offence, free-flowing and confident early, bogged down against the JackJumpers’ pressure. Missed shots turned into long rebounds. Long rebounds turned into transition chances. The building, quiet for much of the first half, roared back into life.

By the time the final minute descended into a rules seminar, Phoenix had already surrendered their grip on the contest.

King knew it.

The confusion over who shot the free throws will dominate the talking points, but inside that Phoenix locker room the focus will be on the 20 minutes where they let Tasmania drag them into a fight and then lost it.

What comes next

For Tasmania, this was classic Roth: undermanned, out of rhythm early, and still finding a way to “defend the island” when it mattered. No Bannan, no Ayre, no Drmic, no Hamilton. Still a win, still a statement.

There’s no time to bask in it. The JackJumpers fly north to face the Cairns Taipans on Wednesday, already carrying the bruises of a season opener that felt like a playoff game.

Phoenix head back to Melbourne and into a Thursday night derby against Melbourne United at John Cain Arena, carrying a different kind of baggage.

They know the rule now. The question is whether they learn the bigger lesson about closing out games when they have a team on the ropes.