Illawarra Hawks have kept their faint NBL play-in hopes alive - and put Tasmania's in some doubt - with a 101-91 win over the JackJumpers.
Centre JaVale McGee scored 23 points, QJ Peterson had 19 and Sam Froling added 16 at Hobart's MyState Bank Arena on Saturday night for the eighth-placed Hawks (9-16), whose shaky championship defence has a semblance of a pulse once again.
"I'm extremely proud of my guys coming out here, playing in a hostile environment, especially on a three-game losing streak," Illawarra coach Justin Tatum said.
"I tip my hat off to my guys to just keep sticking with it, not worry about the crowd and find a way to gel together."
Josh Bannan (26 points) and David Johnson (21) were the best for the sixth-ranked JackJumpers (12-16), who have now lost three straight.
They are also down some key personnel, including arguably their two best players in Will Magnay (toe) and Bryce Hamilton (ruptured ACL), who have joined Sean Macdonald (knee) with season-ending injuries.
Majok Deng (concussion) was also sidelined after he and Johnson were injured in Thursday's loss to Sydney Kings.
The Hawks edged in front 27-26 at quarter-time on Froling's last-second bucket.
Acting captain Anthony Drmic's three-pointer to open the second term gave the Jackies the lead back, before Peterson's four-point play put Illawarra in front again.
Peterson buried three triples for the quarter, which the Hawks dominated 33-22, scoring almost at will against an uncharacteristically lacklustre Tasmania defence.
When McGee threw down a dunk on the halftime horn, the visitors were up 60-48.
McGee continued to thrive after the interval, helping stretch Illawarra's advantage to 68-55, before Bannan and Johnson spearheaded a JackJumpers rally to trim the gap to 82-74 at three-quarter-time.
A Johnson trey trimmed the difference to 86-81 in the fourth, and the Hawks were beginning to look nervous, but Tasmania were unable to make any real inroads into the margin down the stretch.
"I've got nothing but love for what they did," JackJumpers coach Scott Roth said of the fight shown by his depleted squad.
"It's been an emotional 48 hours for this group ... they played as hard as they possibly could."
