NSW lost an early first innings wicket as they looked to chase down Tasmania’s 354 on day two of the Sheffield Shield match at Bellerive.
The Blues were 1-33 at lunch, having lost the talented Nic Maddinson who was bowled by Luke Butterworth (1-20) for 14.
Ryan Carters was unbeaten on 17 and Scott Henry had two.
NSW spinner Steve O’Keefe will begin the second innings on a hat-trick after mopping up the Tigers’ tail.
The left-arm orthodox tweaker finished with 4-74 after taking all four Tasmanian wickets to fall on Saturday morning, when the home side had resumed at 6-299.
He finished off the innings with consecutive balls to remove Ben Hilfenhaus and Sam Rainbird for ducks.
O’Keefe entered the match as the Shield’s third leading wicket-taker and his haul takes his tally to 20.
The 28-year-old trapped Evan Gulbis (23) in front at 7-340 after the Tigers allrounder had put on 57 with Butterworth (41no).
O’Keefe then had Xavier Doherty (10) caught at cover chasing quick runs at 8-353 before knocking over Hilfenhaus and Rainbird.
Blues seamers Sean Abbott (2-71) and Gurinder Sandhu (2-82) each bagged doubles.
Tasmania’s total was largely thanks to a 143-run partnership between Ben Dunk (89) and Tim Paine (78) on Friday while Butterworth’s innings, with six boundaries, helped them beyond 350.