ONE of the National Basketball League (NBL)’s most clutch players stood up in crunch time again, as Milton Doyle led the Tasmania JackJumpers to a thrilling win over Melbourne United on Sunday afternoon.

Travelling to John Cain Arena, the JackJumpers were given the unenviable task of taking down the unbeaten hosts on their home deck. Having loaded up over the off-season, United had started the season in ripping form, and while Tasmania had knocked over the reigning champions a couple of days earlier, it was going to be a reasonably tough order for the league’s newest side.

It was an arm-wrestle of a match to kick things off, with neither side really able to stamp their authority on the match. Every time Melbourne looked to break away on the scoreboard, Tasmania displayed its signature ‘never say die’ attitude and kept within striking distance.

Things started to unravel for the visitors, as United went on a big run in the third quarter, breaking out to a 13-point lead early in the last. However, the JackJumpers rallied on both ends of the court, going on an unanswered 8-0 run to make things interesting before putting the finishing touches on the match to stun the crowd with a five-point win.

The biggest factor in Tasmania’s come-from-behind win was the performance of Doyle, who lived up to claims that he is one of the best fourth quarter players in the entire league.

Melbourne United (75) def. by Tasmania JackJumpers (80)

Milton Doyle – 25 points, eight rebounds, one assist, one steal

Doyle was the go-to man for Tasmania once again, putting the team on his back when the game was in the balance late in the match. When United broke out to a double-digit lead, Tassie’s star guard had been quiet to that point, shooting inefficiently and not having as much of an impact as he had shown in the past. However, in the final 10 minutes of the game, no one was more important.

Of Doyle’s 25 points, 14 came in the final quarter when Tasmania was desperate for some offence, which had dried up to close out the third term. It was clear JackJumpers coach Scott Roth wanted the ball in Doyle’s hands, surrounding him with a strong mixture of perimeter shooters and rebounding bigs.

Doyle repaid the faith with some big plays down the stretch. Combining well in the pick and roll with big man Marcus Lee to create plenty of space and get up some good looks. With Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman benching star defender Matthew Dellavedova, Doyle had plenty of space to knock down some shots from behind the arc, which is exactly what he did.

Trailing by five points late in the game, the All-NBL First Team recipient used the screen to dribble behind his back, pull up a foot behind the arc and splashing down the three-pointer from downtown. After Lee tied up proceedings, Doyle had the opportunity to win the game for Tasmania.

With the game all square at 75-apiece, Doyle once again used the pick and roll to get free from three-point land, hitting a triple to put his side up by three with 20 seconds remaining, in what was an eventual match-winning bucket.

Doyle was the man of the moment for Tasmania in the win over Melbourne, carrying the JackJumpers to score as many points as United did on his own, in another clutch display from the lightly spoken guard.