Australia have shrugged off a rusty begin and a horrific third quarter to comfortably defeat Bahrain 83-51 of their males’s basketball World Cup Asian qualifier in Melbourne.
The Boomers fell right into a shock early gap in Thursday evening’s Group F conflict towards 84th-ranked Bahrain on the State Basketball Centre, earlier than restoring order with a 27-5 second time period.
Coming off a quiet season with Perth, veteran Todd Blanchfield top-scored with 20 factors whereas centre Isaac Humphries notched 18 in his first sport within the green-and-gold since 2019.
Naturalised American energy ahead Wayne Chism (15 factors) and zippy sixth man Haji (14) led the best way for Bahrain, who held robust for big stretches and have been definitely not embarrassed.
World No.3 Australia simply gained the earlier conflict between the 2 groups by 54 factors on the Khalifa Sports Stadium final August.
But they obtained an early jolt this time when Bahrain burst out to a 14-8 lead.
The vacationers nonetheless led 19-18 late within the opening stanza earlier than the Aussies cranked up the defensive strain and went on a 23-0 spree both facet of quarter-time.
Blanchfield had 13 factors in only three minutes as Bahrain momentarily fell to items.
But Australia’s commanding 52-24 halftime lead was trimmed to 59-43 on the closing change after Chism and Haji helped Bahrain dominate the third time period 19-7.
Inexplicably, the Boomers went ice chilly, lacking 16 of their 17 pictures for the quarter as they have been out-rebounded 15-9.
Their struggles did not final although as Blanchfield and Humphries bought rolling within the fourth, joined by captain Nick Kay and his fellow Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Nathan Sobey.
They helped Australia recapture the momentum with a 24-8 closing time period.
The Boomers, who’ve already booked their spot within the World Cup beginning in August, tackle Kazakhstan within the final qualifier on Sunday.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
