The Tasmania JackJumpers have ended a two-match losing sequence by grinding out a 66-62 victory over New Zealand Breakers in their first NBL home game to be hosted in Launceston.
Wayward offence hampered both teams during Saturday's contest at the Silverdome on Saturday as they combined for a lowly 8-of-60 shooting from long distance.
But JackJumpers forward MiKyle McIntosh powered his way inside for a game-high 21 points to ensure his side claim their eighth win of the season and keep them on track to make a push for the semi-finals in their inaugural season.
McIntosh broke a 62-62 tie with a three-point play with less than three minutes remaining and Tasmania stepped up defensively to hold New Zealand scoreless the rest of the way.
JackJumpers coach Scott Roth gave credit to McIntosh for responding to the challenge after struggling to make an impact over the opening months of the season.
"The last few weeks he's gradually starting to put some things together that I was envisioning for him - just a big, strong power guy that can play multiple positions," Roth said about the 201cm Canadian who also played in Belgium and France before joining the JackJumpers.
"He's hit his stride a few games here and I'm really happy for him."
Already dealing with the absence of regular starters Tom Abercrombie, William McDowell White and Yanni Wetzell, New Zealand's rotation was thrown further into chaos with Finn Delany sitting out the majority of the first half after picking up three fouls in the opening seven minutes.
But French teenager Ousmane Dieng scored 11 points in the first quarter and veteran big Rob Loe provided a central point for the offence as the visitors took a narrow 39-38 lead into halftime.
The home side missed their first 18 three-point attempts until reserve centre Jock Perry finally broke the drought in the final minute of the third quarter but Chasson Randle scored nine of New Zealand's 14 points for the term to maintain a 53-50 edge.
Randle finished with 18 points and Dieng added 17 points and nine rebounds but New Zealand's lack of depth came back to haunt them - a 45-6 discrepancy in bench points proving too big a hurdle to overcome.
While coach Dan Shamir felt the frustration of losing four of the last five games, he could not fault the efforts of his injury-riddled squad.
"In the second half fatigue kicked in, we are missing a few players, everybody is playing heavy minutes, it was quite hot," Shamir said after the loss.
"It's not an excuse, maybe we're not good enough for those situations ... not as an excuse but as a comment, but maybe it affected our shooting as well."
