Tasmania JackJumpers are through to the NBL semi-finals for a second straight season after stunning Cairns Taipans 87-79 on their home floor to set up a three-game series with New Zealand Breakers.
In a third versus fourth matchup on Thursday, the Taipans and their home crowd were left astonished as Milton Doyle and Isaac White combined to thwart two comebacks and hold on for another trip to the final four in their second year in the NBL.
Doyle's 25 points included 5-10 from three-point range, to go with four rebounds and three steals while White tallied 18 points on 70 per cent shooting, scoring vital buckets at pivotal areas of the game.
The Taipans shot a dismal 22 per cent from three-point range and struggled offensively for the majority of the opening half, finally finding their feet in the third quarter before Doyle and White took over.
Just days after earning All-NBL first team honours, Doyle hit a dagger three-pointer over DJ Hogg to put his side up 11 with one minute on the clock and the JackJumpers held on.
Tasmania will now face the Breakers in a semi-finals series beginning on Sunday and Cairns have one more chance in the playoffs in a do-or-die clash with Perth on the same day, after the Wildcats triumphed 106-99 over South East Melbourne earlier on Thursday.
"I'm incredibly proud and very, very humbled by this because there's a lot of teams that are trying to do what we did in the last two years and and haven't been able to get it across the line, or what may have happened over the course of their franchise's history," JackJumpers coach Scott Roth said.
"For our group to do it in two years, back to back, is just a great credit to the organisation, my coaching staff and these players."
Cairns coach Adam Forde said all their runs were shutdown by Tasmania's impressive bench output.
"Every time we felt like we got a bit of a run, the momentum was taken from us and whether we were reacting unnecessarily to calls, they made some tough shots and seemed to bring us back down again," he said.
"We can't be too down on ourselves because we've got two days to prepare for Perth up here."
Cairns had hit just eight of their 26 attempts at quarter time while Tasmania had 11 less shots, hitting eight at 53 per cent, for a 25-16 first-term lead.
Their lead would grow to as high as 13 in the second when White finished at the rim plus the foul, forcing Forde into a timeout.
Cairns rallied and narrowed the deficit to four before Doyle's defensive heads-up play led to a Rashard Kelly dunk and Tasmania enjoyed a nine-point buffer at the main break.
The first-half differences were apparent offensively; Cairns pushing the pace but struggling while Roth's side shared the ball and made extra passes for open looks.
That changed early in the third term with Tasmania's ball movement drying up and Cairns distributing the ball effectively.
Midway through the third quarter the lead was erased completely as Bul Kuol's free throw put the Taipans up by one.
But Tasmania went straight back to their main man Doyle and his side finished the quarter with a flourish, scoring 13 of the last 15 points in the term.
Cairns got within eight midway through the final quarter but the damage was done.
