Boomers Stay Unbeaten with Hammering of Japan

The Australian Boomers produced a dominant performance to win big over Japan as the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers continued at John Cain Arena on Friday night.

Australia had won their opening four matches as part of qualifying for the 2023 FIBA World Cup including a hard earned 76-69 win in Melbourne against China on Thursday night.

It was a different story 24 hours later with the Boomers producing a dominant performance including holding Japan to just four points in the second quarter on the way to the eventual 98-52 victory.

By the end of the evening, all 12 Australian players hit the court, played at least 10 minutes and each of them scored which included Boomers debut performances from Keanu Piner and Wani Swaka Lo Buluk.

It was a standout team performance from Australia as they ended up shooting 54.3 per cent from the field, 43.6 per cent from beyond the three-point arc and held the Japanese team to going at just 27.0 per cent overall and 27.0 per cent from three-point land.

After being dominated on the glass on Thursday against China, the Boomers lifted in that area with 47 rebounds to Japan's 32 while Australia forced Japan into 16 turnovers for 17 points while scoring 42 points to 14 in the paint, and 65 points off the bench to 30.

At one point the Boomers led by as much as 54 points before ending up winning by 46 with Will McDowell-White finishing with 14 points and six assists, and Sam McDaniel 14 points.

Sam Froling added 12 points, six rebounds and four assists, captain Matthew Dellavedova nine points and five assists, Jack McVeigh nine points and three rebounds, Todd Blanchfield eight points, Clint Steindl eight points, and Thon Maker seven points and nine rebounds.

Wani Swaka Lo Buluk also had six points, two rebounds and two steals, Mitch McCarron five points and two boards, Jack White four points, six rebounds and three assists, and Keanu Pinder two points, three boards and three assists.

Keisei Tominaga top-scored on a tough night for Japan with 18 points on 5/11 shooting from deep with Yudai Nishida adding nine points and four boards.

Boomers captain Matthew Dellavedova kept his shooting touch going from the night before opening the game with another three ball before Clint Steindl and Thon Maker also nailed shots from beyond the arc to put the host nation on top.

The Boomers were then able to open up a 22-13 advantage by quarter-time and then produced a remarkably dominant second term.

Australia scored the first nine points starting with a massive putback dunk from Jack White. Maker also delivered a dunk before Japan finally scored after more than five minutes.

The Boomers weren’t letting up with a triple from Jack McVeigh stretching the lead out beyond 20 and by the half-time Australia was leading 47-17 on the back of 25 points to four in the second quarter. 

By half-time, not only did the Boomers lead by 30 points but they had 25 rebounds to 16, 11 points from turnovers to zero, seven chance points to two, 24 points in the paint to eight and 27 points off the bench to six.

Australia shot the ball at 52.8 per cent in the first half too with 7/20 from downtown despite just attempting three free-throws while Japan went at just 23.3 per cent from the floor, 3/18 from deep and 0/2 from the charity stripe.

It was cruise mode throughout the second half and it was a chance for coach Brian Goorjian to get a good run into all 12 Boomers players. That included a chance for Wani Swaka Lo Buluk and Keanu Pinder to score their first points in Australian colours.

Australia's lead did grow to as much as 54 points during the second half but Japan fought the game out with an improved fourth quarter to cut the final deficit to 46.

The Boomers will now complete this FIBA window on Sunday with another hit out against China at John Cain Arena.

FIBA WORLD CUP ASIAN QUALIFIERS

AUSTRALIAN BOOMERS 98 (McDowell-White 14, McDaniel 14, Froling 12)

JAPAN 52 (Tominaga 18, Nishida 9, Fujii 8) 

BOX SCORE