Breaker Will Shoots Down Tall Blacks as Boomers Reach Final

The irony won't be lost on him as New Zealand Breakers guard Will McDowell-White hit the two biggest shots of the FIBA Asia Cup semi-final to shoot the Australian Boomers into Sunday's final with the 85-76 win over New Zealand.

The Boomers and Tall Blacks locked horns in what was a fascinating semi-final Asia Cup match up on Saturday night in Jakarta, Indonesia.

While Australia ended up having the answers to each challenge, New Zealand continued to throw everything at them and Breakers big man Sam Timmins brought them within four late in the piece, and then Kruz Perrott-Hunt hit a three-pointer and the foul.

That made it a two-point ball game with 3:30 left and that's when Thon Maker stepped for a massive three before McDowell-White knocked down two of them in the biggest shots of the night to give the Boomers the win.

It continued a stunning run in the Boomers team for McDowell-White before he heads to Auckland to prepare for the #NBL23 season with the Breakers.

Australia now advances to Sunday's gold medal match up against Lebanon, who defeated Jordan 86-85 in the other semi-final with the Boomers looking to make it back-to-back Asia Cup triumphs.

The Tall Blacks will play in the bronze medal playoff against Jordan.

While Australia did dominate the boards for much of the night, New Zealand ended up winning the battle on the glass even though the Boomers still ended up with 16 second chance points to six.

The pressure from the Boomers also helped force the Tall Blacks into 14 turnovers from which they scored 17 points on the way to the semi-final victory.

Thon Maker ended up top-scoring once again for the Boomers with 18 points and nine rebounds while Will McDowell-White ended up with 15 points and seven assists with the 4/7 shooting from downtown.

Mitch McCarron added 13 points and seven assists, Tyrese Proctor 13 points, Keanu Pinder 11 points and six rebounds, Sam Froling seven points and six boards, Alex Ducas five points and five assists, and Rhys Vague three points and three boards.

Sam Timmins finished with 16 points and eight rebounds for the Tall Blacks with former Cairns Taipans development player Jordan Hunt delivering 16 points, four boards, three assists and three blocks.

Flynn Cameron also had 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Kruz Perrott-Hunt 11 points and four assists, and Tohi Smith-Milner eight points and seven rebounds.

Sam Froling has set the tone early in just about every game so far at the Asia Cup and it was no different in the semi-final with him opening the scoring for the Boomers before the Tall Blacks responded through Flynn Cameron.

Young guns Alex Ducas and Tyrese Proctor then knocked down triples for Australia before Rhys Vague added another from deep. The Boomers then went on an 8-3 thanks to big men Froling, Thon Maker and Keanu Pinder.

However, New Zealand stayed in touch thanks to a pair of late three balls from Jordan Hunt to cut the Australian lead to four.

Froling then knocked down a triple to open the second quarter for Australia but again the Tall Blacks kept things close including a triple from Cameron and then nice pass inside from Hunt to Takiula Fahrensohn for the finish.

The Boomers were then able to blow the game wide open beginning with a three ball from Will McDowell-White. That kickstarted a 14-2 run for Australia that included another three from Mitch McCarron.

Pinder then stepped out to hit from downtown as well to see Australia lead 49-37 by half-time on the back of 23 rebounds to 17 and five offensive boards to one for nine second chance points to zero.

McDowell-White knocked down another from downtown to open the second half for Australia but Hunt answered immediately for New Zealand. 

It was Maker who blew the game open when he went on his own 7-2 run for the Boomers which included his first dunk of the night, a three-pointer and then a layup to help the defending champions to the 12-point three quarter-time lead.

New Zealand was still going to throw everything into a fightback, though, and a couple of inside finishes from Sam Timmins had the margin back to five. It was then four with four minutes to go thanks to Timmins again.

The potential game changer was then a four-point play from Kruz Perrott-Hunt. That made it a two-point ball game with three and-a-half left and Australia had to respond. They did courtesy of three balls from Maker and McDowell-White.

McDowell-White then shut the door with his fourth long bomb of the night to help Australia into the final where they will attempt to make it back-to-back Asia Cup championships.

FIBA ASIA CUP 2022 – SEMI FINALS

AUSTRALIAN BOOMERS 85 (Maker 18, McDowell-White 15, McCarron 13, Proctor 13)

NEW ZEALAND TALL BLACKS 76 (Hunt 16, Timmins 16, Cameron 15)

BOX SCORE