Jock Landale’s participation in Australia’s World Cup squad is in jeopardy after he suffered an ankle harm within the Boomers’ scientific 88-67 victory over South Sudan at Rod Laver Arena.
Landale, who performs with the NBA’s Houston Rockets and is Australia’s first-choice centre, hobbled off gingerly after rolling his left ankle 5 minutes into Thursday evening’s conflict.
Worryingly, he missed the Boomers’ earlier two matches towards Brazil and Venezuela with an ankle concern.
Melbourne United captain Chris Goulding (knee) did not play once more and was joined on the sidelines by veteran Joe Ingles, who missed the South Sudan match with a knee niggle of his personal, leaving Australia with a number of harm considerations heading into the World Cup, which begins subsequent Friday.
Following their shock four-point loss to Brazil on Wednesday, the world No.3 Boomers once more appeared out-of-sync early, trailing 62nd-ranked South Sudan 11-4, earlier than unleashing a withering 23-0 run amid an total 30-2 burst both aspect of quarter time to blow the match aside.
Matisse Thybulle (17 factors) and Duop Reath (15) got here off the bench to fireside Australia at each ends.
Dante Exum’s steal-and-dunk sparked the Boomers, who smothered the vacationers defensively.
“We knew they were going to come in tough and it would be an athletic game,” mentioned Exum, who had seven assists and two first-quarter steals.
“It was a really good game for us, for the next step going into the World Cup.”
The hosts prolonged their 21-11 quarter-time benefit to 48-29 at halftime earlier than captain Patty Mills shook off his taking pictures cobwebs to start out the third stanza with back-to-back triples.
Thybulle buried his fifth three-pointer from as many makes an attempt late in that quarter, which was once more dominated by the Aussies.
South Sudan confirmed some grit to win the fourth time period, their 216cm 16-year-old Khaman Maluach pulling down a three-pointer and throwing down a vicious dunk on Jack White.
Swingman Marial Shayok top-scored for South Sudan with 15 factors, whereas Los Angeles Lakers ahead Wenyen Gabriel snared 12 rebounds.
In the sooner match, Brazil beat Venezuela 83-71 to complete the four-team match undefeated.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
