Red-hot Zylan Cheatham has fired the Adelaide 36ers to a 97-86 road win over injury-hit Tasmania, surviving a brief late scare in a largely one-sided NBL affair.
Cheatham ripped the game away from the hosts early in Hobart on Thursday night and led all scorers with a personal season-high 27 points.
The American power forward also produced 13 rebounds, four assists and a pair of huge blocks in his best performance for the Sixers to date.
Teammate DJ Vasiljevic lost his starting spot to Matt Kenyon but contributed 14 points off the bench.
Bryce Cotton had to deal with close checking from the JackJumpers, finishing with 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists — as well as four turnovers.
Title contenders Adelaide advanced to 8-3 for the season, ahead of a home clash with last-placed Cairns on Sunday.
Tasmania slipped to 5-8 and have lost five straight games at home, where they have a horror 1-6 record this season.
The JackJumpers struggled without captain Will Magnay (knee), who joined import David Johnson (calf) and Anthony Drmic (back) on the sidelines.
Tyger Campbell (20 points), stand-in skipper Majok Deng (17) and Josh Bannan (16) top-scored for the home side.
But they were no match for Cheatham, who landed a pair of big threes before the quarter-time buzzer to put Adelaide on a 10-0 run.
The Sixers led 26-15 at that stage and the margin ballooned to 18 points during the second period as Cheatham’s 16 first-half points kept them in control.
Tasmania saw Bannan and Ben Ayre foul out late but refused to give in, and cut the deficit back to single figures multiple times in the final three minutes.
But the Sixers steadied late to seal their fifth win in six away games this season.
Tasmania have an extended eight-day break before an away game against Perth next Friday night.