Tasmania have defied a horror injury list, a short turnaround and a late scare to consolidate second position on the NBL ladder with a backs-to-the-wall 98-89 victory over South East Melbourne.
The depleted JackJumpers fielded only seven players at John Cain Arena on Sunday, and used their starting five for the vast majority, after import David Johnson (calf) and centre Ben Gold (foot) joined Bryce Hamilton, Majok Deng and Ben Ayre in the casualty ward.
But as ever Tasmania - just 48 hours after a gruelling three-point home loss to Sydney - found a way.
Dakotia Mathias top-scored for the Jackies with 22 points, while import D'Shawn Schwartz posted a career-high 27 for the Phoenix, who fought hard in the second half after crashing to a 22-point deficit.
"I'm proud of these guys - the fight is real with them, and the competitiveness showed," Tasmania coach Scott Roth said.
"We knew they'd make a run at us. We bent a little bit but didn't break."
The early stages were even before Taran Armstrong's layup on the quarter-time siren capped a 9-2 finish to the term to put the JackJumpers up 27-18.
SEM lost their way in the second term as Tasmania's buffer ballooned to 22 points.
The visitors attacked the paint with precision, crashed the boards and limited the Phoenix to just 1-of-10 from three-point range to hold sway 57-39 at halftime.
SEM emerged from the main break with more purpose and energy, inspired at both ends by French import Yannis Morin.
Fellow big Jordan Hunter followed suit, throwing down a dunk on Mathias to cap a 19-3 spree which slashed the margin to 63-58.
Tasmania regrouped and were back in control, ahead 78-64 early in the fourth, before Schwartz revived the Phoenix again, reducing the deficit to three points.
But Armstrong had the last say.
After a successful coach's challenge had earlier prevented him from fouling out, Armstrong eyeballed SEM opponent Tanner Krebs at the top of the key, dribbled between his legs 15 times, crossed Krebs up, then banked the dagger with 35.5 seconds remaining.
"We didn't have the right approach to start the game," Phoenix coach Josh King said.
"We clearly didn't throw the first punch. They did."
