Bryce Hamilton has scored 26 points as Tasmania shrugged off a slow start to open their NBL account with a hard-fought 75-72 win over Perth at RAC Arena.
The JackJumpers overturned a 12-point deficit soon after quarter-time on Saturday night to dominate the middle two quarters, before holding on narrowly as the Wildcats rallied late.
Devastated at losing the legendary Bryce Cotton to arch-rival Adelaide over the offseason, Perth fans were tormented by the competition's newest Bryce - Hamilton - who scored 20 of his game-high haul after halftime.
Hamilton followed a step-back three with a tough coast-to-coast drive and a neat floater late to give Tasmania an eight-point lead inside the last minute.
Wildcats import Mason Jones responded with a trey and a three-point play to give the home side a sniff, but his three-point prayer at the buzzer - which would have forced overtime - was wayward.
"It was a grinder," said JackJumpers coach Scott Roth.
"We were very conscious of trying to control tempo and (getting) quality shots.
"When you come to this venue, foul discipline is really important and I think our guys navigated that quite well."
Jones top-scored for Perth with 16 points, while gun recruit Jo Lual-Acuil paired 15 points with 14 rebounds.
Lual-Acuil and 17th-year veteran Jesse Wagstaff were active early as the Wildcats rode a strong 16-11 rebounding advantage to a 21-13 quarter-time lead.
In danger of being snowed under and starting the season 0-2 following their opening-night loss to Melbourne, Tasmania lifted their energy after the break, Hamilton and fellow American David Johnson pacing a 16-3 run as Perth began stagnating at both ends.
Another Hamilton-inspired 10-0 burst gave the visitors total control in the third period as Tasmania ultimately outscored Perth 20-14 and 21-14 in the middle two quarters to lead by five at the last change.
Ben Henshall and Kristian Doolittle started the final term strongly for the Wildcats but they had no answers for the brilliant Hamilton.
"They had more shot attempts, more free-throw attempts, more offensive rebounds and they turned it over less than us," said Wildcats coach John Rillie.
"They gave themselves a better chance, just with more opportunities than us. We didn't create our own lu
