Hot First Half Fires Boomers in Asia Cup Opener

The Australian Boomers opened their FIBA Asia Cup defence in Jakarta with a dominant first half on Tuesday evening on the way to a commanding 78-60 victory against Jordan.

Australia warmed up for the Asia Cup in Indonesia over the next fortnight with three wins last week in World Cup Asian Qualifiers in Melbourne ahead of defending their title from 2017.

This is the first Asia Cup since then and with 2020 NBL Coach of the Year Mike Kelly at the helm of the Boomers for the tournament, they started on fire on Tuesday night against Jordan with a hot first half to set up the eventual 18-point win in Group A action.

Thon Maker was the standout player on the court and finished with 23 points and eight rebounds for the Boomers on shooting 8/14 from the field, 3/6 from downtown and 4/4 from the free-throw line.

He was far from the only strong contributor for Australia, though, with Sam Froling partnering Maker in the front court for 16 points and eight rebounds on 8/13 shooting.

Tasmania JackJumpers captain Clint Steindl hit eight points while Rhys Vague added eight points while Will McDowell-White continued his good form from last week's World Cup Asian Qualifiers with seven points, seven assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Adelaide 36ers captain Mitch McCarron also had seven points, four assists and three steals with David Okwera contributing five points, three rebounds, two assists and two blocks, and Centre of Excellence young gun Tyrese Proctor four points, four boards and two assists.

Dar Tucker top-scored for Jordan with 20 points with Ahmad Al Dwairi adding 10 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots.

Australia started strongly racing to a 6-2 lead beginning with a nice flush from Sam Froling then a couple of inside buckets from Thom Maker as the starting front court of the Boomers quickly stamped their authority.

Maker then stepped out to drain a three ball and then the Boomers really got on a roll from the land of plenty. 

David Okwera, Rhys Vague (two) and Will McDowell-White all hit from deep to close the first quarter with Okwera also now throwing down a nice dunk to see Australia lead 27-12 by the end of one on the back of some hot shooting.

The Boomers kept that roll going to start the second quarter and Clint Steindl and Maker drilled three-pointers as part of a 10-0 run that saw the lead grow out to 23 points.

Froling then had a big finish to the half with three successive baskets which saw Australia head into the break on top 52-26.

That was on the back of hitting 8/18 from downtown and shooting 51.3 per cent overall on the back of 16 assists and Maker putting up 14 points and six boards.

It was a mighty impressive first half from Australia but the second half didn’t quite start as well and it took more than three minutes for the Boomers to score thanks to another big finish inside from Maker.

Australia would go on an 8-2 run but they would be their only points of the third term and by three quarter-time Jordan had managed to put up 19 points and cut the deficit to 17.

The Boomers came out strongly in response to start the fourth quarter with triples to Steindl and Maker as part of a 10-2 run to see the lead back out to 23 points.

Froling then made up for having one attempt blocked to score a couple of inside baskets for Australia before McDowell-White and Tyrese Proctor closed the game with scores and the Boomers opened their Asia Cup defence with the 18-point victory.

The Boomers will continue their Group A match ups on Thursday against Saudi Arabia before taking on the host nation Indonesia on Saturday evening.

FIBA ASIA CUP 2022 – GROUP PHASE

AUSTRALIAN BOOMERS 78 (Maker 23, Froling 16, Steindl 8, Vague 8)

JORDAN 60 (Tucker 20, Al Dwairi 10, Ibrahim 8)

BOX SCORE