JackJumpers beat short-handed Bullets 106-85 to stay top, with 22 from Josh Bannan against his old club

The Brisbane Bullets arrived at MyState Bank Arena on Wednesday night without their two big men, Tyrell Harrison and Jacob Holt, and the Tasmania JackJumpers made them pay inside five minutes. Tasmania led 14-2 early, never trailed and won 106-85. The JackJumpers are 6-2 and stay on top of the NBL ladder.

Josh Bannan, playing his old club, had 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Taran Armstrong scored 19, and Will Magnay had 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. The Wednesday game also counted towards the Ignite Cup, and Tasmania took all seven points on offer by winning each quarter.

The Bullets fall to 3-4. Harrison and Holt are out with ankle injuries, on top of Arnas Velička and Sam McDaniel. Harrison failed a fitness test on the day. The JackJumpers' last game was a win over the Breakers at home on Sunday, in our weekend roundup.

How it went

First quarter. Dakota Mathias scored the first basket and Tasmania went on a 9-0 run, from 5-2 to 14-2, with 5:45 left in the quarter. Brisbane missed all five of their threes in the period and trailed 22-15 at the first break.

Second quarter. Both sides scored freely. Brisbane put up 29, but Tasmania scored 34 and led 56-44 at half-time.

Third quarter. Tasmania opened the half with seven of the first nine points, a Nick Marshall three among them, to lead 63-46. Brisbane kept answering. A Neto three and a Taine Murray free throw cut it to 71-60 with 3:55 left in the quarter. Mathias answered with a three, and Tasmania scored 13 of the last 17 points of the quarter to lead 84-64. The JackJumpers won the quarter 28-20.

Fourth quarter. The lead reached 26 at 97-71 with 6:12 left, and Tasmania took the quarter 22-21.

The numbers

Tasmania shot 38 of 66 from the field and 11 of 22 from three, and had 28 assists. David Johnson scored 17 off the bench with three threes. Mathias, still playing after a procedure on his nose last week, scored 16 with six assists. Nick Marshall added 12.

Max Mackinnon led Brisbane with 21 points and four threes. Nate Hinton scored 13 with five assists. Neto, the former NBA point guard signed to cover Velička, played 14 minutes in his first game and had nine points and six assists. Brisbane went to the line 12 times and made nine, and took 29 threes and made eight.

"As it was moving along, we generated 29 threes, and I bet 21 of them were pretty good, and sometimes you shoot 27 per cent," Bullets coach Will Weaver said.

Of Neto, he said: "If I could play basketball like that, I too would be excited to get back on the court."

Scoring

Scoring: Tasmania 106-85 Brisbane (Wednesday)

Tasmania: Josh Bannan 22, Taran Armstrong 19, David Johnson 17, Dakota Mathias 16, Will Magnay 12, Nick Marshall 12, Ben Gold 8, Nicholas Stoddart 0, Kody Stattmann 0, Biwali Bayles 0.

Brisbane: Max Mackinnon 21, Nate Hinton 13, Jaylin Williams 10, Raul Neto 9, Lat Mayen 9, Taine Murray 8, Mawot Mag 6, Archie Woodhill 5, Harry Rouhliadeff 4, Mitchell Norton 0.

By quarter: Tasmania 22, 34, 28, 22. Brisbane 15, 29, 20, 21.

What is next

Brisbane play at the Illawarra Hawks on Saturday, October 24. Tasmania have a week off before hosting the Sydney Kings in Launceston on Friday, October 30.