The Tasmania JackJumpers have moved to third place on the NBL ladder with a clinical 82-72 win over the Adelaide 36ers.
The JackJumpers (6-4) absorbed a late Sixers rally after smothering the home side defensively for the first three quarters, silencing the sold-out crowd of 9440 at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Saturday night.
Pint-sized import Jordon Crawford (17 points) and former 36er Jack McVeigh (14) led the Tassie charge, while the multi-skilled Milton Doyle (13 points, eight assists, four steals) was influential at both ends as the hosts were restricted to 15, 16 and 16 in the opening three terms.
Dejan Vasiljevic (16 points) was unsighted for three quarters before exploding late for the seventh-ranked Sixers (3-7), who missed the scoring punch of in-form American Trey Kell, who was a late withdrawal with a calf injury.
"We turned the ball over early, that hurt us and put us in a bad spot," 36ers coach CJ Burton said.
"We've had our problems valuing the ball and getting good shots."
Doyle started the evening with two steals inside the first minute, which ended in back-to-back breakaway dunks from McVeigh and Lee.
Adelaide responded through skipper Mitch McCarron's baseline slam, which was followed by Jacob Wiley's athletic jam over Lee, but the Sixers continued to cough up possession, racking up six first-quarter turnovers.
Back-up 36ers power forward Tohi Smith-Milner earned an unsportsmanlike foul for his crude shirtfront on JackJumpers centre Will Magnay - making his return from a fractured foot - which sparked an Adelaide mini-revival.
Teenage tyro Trentyn Flowers, hustling forward Alex Starling and enforcer Smith-Milner masterminded a bench-inspired 9-0 burst either side of quarter-time to briefly give the Sixers the lead.
JackJumpers coach Scott Roth quickly called a time-out and the visitors reset successfully.
Crawford, scoreless in the opening stanza, pocketed eight second-quarter points in less than three minutes, spearheading an 8-1 close to the half, at the end of which Tasmania held sway 39-31.
Adelaide's wasteful ways continued when Vasiljevic threw away their 11th turnover with the first possession of the third period.
After the JackJumpers' buffer ballooned to 66-47 on Crawford's trey to start the fourth, Vasiljevic inspired a 16-4 spree to close the gap to seven points before Doyle and Anthony Drmic terminated the comeback.
"It was a classic JackJumpers game, a grinding game," Roth said.
"We stepped up and played well across the board."
