Jacks of all trades: Roth's men find a way again

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Bryce Hamilton ($293,100) out; David Johnson ($232,900) out; Majok Deng ($214,500) out; Ben Ayre ($117,700) out; and Ben Gold ($69,000) out - Tasmania JackJumpers 7-3 and second on the NBL27 ladder.

Less than 48 hours after a grind-it-out 71-68 loss to NBL26 champions Sydney Kings in Launceston, the JackJumpers went into John Cain Arena and handed South East Melbourne its sixth loss of the season, 98-89 in Round 7 on Sunday, November 1, 2026.

"This is obviously a difficult team to play against with the pace that they play," Tasmania head coach Scott Roth said.

"We know we had a grinder 72 hours ago with Sydney, right down to the wire, and then we lose two players, and now we're down five total.

"Just the resilience of these guys to show up again and travel and recover yesterday. Just the grit and grind of what the JackJumpers are and how we go about our business.

"Obviously, I'm proud of these guys. The fight is real with them, and the competitiveness showed. We knew they'd make a run at us, and we just held our ground a bit there. We bent a little bit but didn't break."

NBL Injury Report

Tasmania JackJumpers – 5 injuries

All five on the NBL list

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Player	Status	Injury	Return
Ben Ayre	Out	Hip flexor	Round 9
WIN News Tasmania’s Brent Costelloe reported from the JackJumpers press conference on Wednesday 17 September that Ayre was "still a few weeks away from returning". He has not played in NBL27 and missed both Round 7 games. The NBL’s latest list still has him back in Round 9.
Majok Deng	Out	Lower leg	Mid-December
Michael Randall reported on 22 September 2026 that Deng will miss Tasmania’s trip to the Cairns Taipans on Wednesday 23 September, joining Josh Bannan, Anthony Drmic, Ben Ayre and Bryce Hamilton on the sidelines, without specifying an injury. The NBL’s own list added him as a lower leg injury in its 26 September update. The NBL said on 30 October 2026 he will miss a further six weeks with a fractured fibula, which points to mid-December, and its list of that date has him back in Round 13.
Ben Gold	Out	Foot	TBC
Head coach Scott Roth said after Tasmania’s loss to the Sydney Kings on Friday 30 October 2026 that Gold has been dealing with a foot problem, has not practised in about two weeks and will be shut down “for a while”. The NBL’s list carries him as an ankle injury, return to be confirmed.
Bryce Hamilton	Out	ACL	TBC
Tasmania have confirmed the knee injury is an ACL, and have signed Nick Stoddart as a Nominated Replacement Player to cover him for the Blitz and the start of the season.
David Johnson	Out	Calf	TBC
Johnson left Tasmania’s loss to the Sydney Kings on Friday 30 October 2026 in the second quarter and did not return. Head coach Scott Roth said afterwards the calf injury “is going to be quite a while”.

Injury, status and return come from the NBL’s list, read on Sunday 1 November 2026, with our own reporting in the notes. Every NBL player, club by club, in the NBL Injury Report.

Roth dismissed out of hand any need for the JackJumpers to bring in anyone while he waits for his five players to come off the Injury List.

"Not at all. No. Our team is our team, and we sit where we sit," Roth said.

"I think Ben Gold's situation is a rest period. He just has a bizarre rash on the back of his Achilles that just won't go away, which is completely random which is irritating him. I think that will take care of itself in a few weeks.

"I think David Johnson, from what I understand, will get a scan, but not as severe as he's had in the past. Hopefully that's on the mend.

"Benny, we keep our fingers crossed. He was sore last week when he started to play again. Maybe this week again he'll be ready to go, which will be obviously extremely helpful.

"An unfortunate Majok with a blood clot. The bone's fine. It's just now how does that end up going away over some medication? We're hoping sooner than later for all those.

"Then Bryce Hamilton is tracking perfectly for us at this point. We'll keep our fingers crossed with him. We plan to, hopefully, if things go well, end of December for him."

The JackJumpers climbed all over the Phoenix in the first half, leading 57-39 on balanced scoring.

Phoenix head coach Josh King was less than impressed.

"I didn't like their body language. That was the biggest thing," King said.

"I didn't like our look and our energy on the bench, guys coming in and out of the game. I thought everybody was making mistakes, and not to look at the scoreboard and to play the way we're supposed to play and the way we're meant to play.

"That's the toughest part as a coach. You can't really make adjustments when you're not doing the things you're supposed to be doing.

"A lot of what we do is play with energy, play with toughness, play with fight, play with pride.

"I don't think that's a lot to ask for, but in this day and age, it seems like it is sometimes a lot to ask for, which is unfortunate."

Roth only went seven deep, with only Taran Armstrong ($304,700) playing less than 30 minutes among the starters because of foul trouble. Roth saved him from his fifth foul with an excellent coach's challenge on a supposed reach-in.

"When Taran came into the league, I would say he's a baby," Roth added.

"He's still a baby, but he's just young, scratching the surface, leaving college to go up to Cairns.

"He's seen a lot of basketball. He's been in the EuroLeague. He's seen EuroLeague-style play. He's just a guy that's going to continually get better with more reps and playing.

"He's smart, and he has the DNA. Not only is he Tasmanian, but he has the DNA of the JackJumpers, which is just a tough-mentality kind of kid that is no-nonsense.

"My process is hope (on the challenge), ultimately, because a lot of times - I've said this before - I have no idea what's really going to transpire.

"He had his fifth foul, and obviously we had two timeouts sitting there, so it would have been stupid of me not to challenge that. He felt very confident that he didn't touch him.

"To keep him in the game, it was almost a no-brainer to make that challenge. But in general, it's hope. I'm not smart enough to have some kind of philosophy other than we don't want to use them in the first half at all. That's kind of a general rule for us.

"The rest is keep my fingers crossed and see what the basketball gods come back with."

Watch

NBL27

South East Melbourne Phoenix vs Tasmania JackJumpers | Round 7 Highlights

Watch the highlights as South East Melbourne Phoenix take on the Tasmania JackJumpers in Round 7 of NBL27 on November 1, 2026.

What you need to know

• The Tasmania JackJumpers beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix 98-89 at John Cain Arena in Round 7 of NBL27, without David Johnson (calf) and Ben Gold (foot), moving to 7-3, level with Sydney for the best record in the league. The Phoenix are 4-6.
• Tasmania won the first two quarters 27-18 and 30-21 to lead 57-39 at half-time, and led for good from the 4:01 mark of the first. The Phoenix won the last two 25-19 and 25-22, taking the second half 50-41.
• Dakota Mathias ($145,200) top-scored for Tasmania with 22 on 6-from-10, including 7-from-7 at the line, and D'Shawn Schwartz ($277,000) led the game with 27 on 10-from-16 with no turnovers.
• Tasmania's lead reached 22 at 50-28 with 2:40 left in the second. The Phoenix's 9-0 run in the third turned 60-39 into 60-48, and they got within three at 85-82 with 3:18 left and at 87-84 with 2:42 left, but Nick Marshall ($203,400) scored straight back at 87-84 and Mathias made his last six free throws.
• Tasmania went 21-from-30 at the line to the Phoenix's 12-from-16, a nine-point gap in a nine-point game, and took just 12 threes, making five. The Phoenix took 29 and made seven, and Tasmania had 21 assists to 14.

Milestones & Moments

• Tasmania's 12 three-point attempts are the fewest by any team in the 50 NBL27 games played.
• Tasmania lead the season series 2-0 after their 96-91 win on September 21, and are 3-1 on the road.
• The 57 points the Phoenix conceded in the first half are their most in an NBL27 first half.
• Angus Glover ($191,700) played his 199th NBL game.
• Nathan Sobey ($379,600) played his 340th NBL game and moved to 5,415 career NBL points.
• Will Magnay ($269,300) moved to 932 career NBL rebounds.
• Taran Armstrong ($304,700) moved to 701 career NBL points, 299 short of 1,000. Josh Bannan ($317,500) played his 80th NBL game, 20 short of 100.
• Tanner Krebs ($150,300) played his 185th NBL game and moved to 449 career NBL rebounds.

Tasmania JackJumpers

• Dakota Mathias ($145,200) top-scored with 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists on 6-from-10, including 3-from-5 from three and 7-from-7 at the line.
• Taran Armstrong ($304,700) added 18 points, five rebounds and three assists on 8-from-16, with seven of his points in the fourth quarter and four turnovers.
• Nick Marshall ($203,400) had 17 points, seven rebounds and three steals on 7-from-13, with five offensive rebounds.
• Will Magnay ($269,300) had 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and four blocks on 5-from-8, going 5-from-8 at the line.
• Josh Bannan ($317,500) had 14 points, six rebounds and four assists on 5-from-10, with seven of his points in the third quarter.
• Kody Stattmann ($116,800) scored six off the bench on 2-from-3 in 17 minutes, and finished plus-14.
• Nicholas Stoddart ($69,000) scored six off the bench on 3-from-5 in 12 minutes, and finished plus-20.
• Tasmania shot 36-from-65 from the field, 5-from-12 from three and 21-from-30 at the line, with 39 rebounds, 21 assists and 13 turnovers.

South East Melbourne Phoenix

• D'Shawn Schwartz ($277,000) top-scored with 27 points and five rebounds on 10-from-16, including 3-from-7 from three and 4-from-4 at the line, with eight of his points in the fourth quarter.
• Angus Glover ($191,700) had 14 points, four rebounds and two steals on 5-from-12, including 2-from-8 from three.
• Nathan Sobey ($379,600) had 13 points and five rebounds on 5-from-14, going 1-from-8 from three, with seven turnovers.
• Yannis Morin ($277,000) had 13 points, four rebounds, three steals and three blocks on 6-from-9, with eight of his points in the third quarter.
• Dash Daniels ($115,000) had seven points and four assists on 3-from-4, finishing plus-16, the best for the Phoenix, before fouling out with 12 seconds left.
• Jordan Hunter ($224,800) had seven points, four rebounds and two blocks off the bench on 3-from-6, and fouled out with 1:28 left in the third, having played 12 minutes.
• Skylar Mays ($277,000) had four points off the bench on 1-from-6 in 14 minutes, finishing minus-17.
• The Phoenix shot 35-from-74 from the field, 7-from-29 from three and 12-from-16 at the line, with 36 rebounds, 14 assists and 13 turnovers.