Boomers show fight to defeat athletic Nigerians

The Boomers played a hard fought second round Pool match against Nigeria in Bendigo on Sunday night, coming away 103-57 winners.

Young gun Brad Newley was again the standout for Australia, the 21-year-old Boomers rookie scoring 15 points in an explosive display of exciting basketball.

“(Newley is) special; he’s going to have a great career and a long career for the Boomers,” Goorjian said.

“Our team has no-one like him. I put him in the class on the perimeter that you have with Bogut on the inside.”

Big wraps for a young man who is at the very beginning of his career.

“It’s good to be out there,” Newley said after the game. “It’s awesome. I’m getting plenty of good looks and feeding off all the other great players on the team.”

The Boomers, playing an athletically talented team, stuck to their game plan of playing good team defence (nine steals and causing 22 Nigerian turnovers) and playing as a team, dishing out 26 assists in the game compared to Nigeria’s three. They also shot the ball more accurately (48% compared to 28%).

The match started in Nigeria’s favour, the Africans scoring the first points of the match thanks to a break away lay up from Ejike Muoneke. The term remained tight, but the Boomers were able to pull away towards the end of the quarter to post a six-point advantage at the first break, 20-14.

Team leader, Jason Smith, was on fire early for the Aussies with seven first quarter points. Ejike Ugboaja and Abdulrahman Mohammed were both on six for Nigeria.

The second quarter saw the Australians further push their advantage, their offence seeming to come together, allowing more shots to come and more to drop. The defensive intensity also improved from the Boomers, leading to five Nigerian turnovers and giving the Boomers four steals.

After playing just four minutes in the first quarter, Newley was given eight minutes in the second, scoring 11 points, blocking a shot, dishing two assists and pulling down two rebounds.

Stanley Gamut had an explosive second quarter for the Africans, scoring seven points and pulling down two rebounds.

The Aussie’s defensive onslaught only intensified in the third quarter, Nigeria scoring only nine points to Australia’s 24 in the term. The Boomers forced eight Nigerian turnovers in the term and stole a further two balls, stretching their lead to 73-40.

All Australian players provided good offensive contributions in the third quarter, with Neil Mottram giving his team seven points, including five from the free throw line.

Nigeria’s offensive intensity lifted in the final term, and they managed 17 points, to round out their match 46 points in arrears of the gold medal favourites, 103-57. Despite their athleticism, Nigeria lacked offensive structure, breaking down when pressured by the well-drilled Australian team.

The Aussies hit the tonne with more than a minute on the clock and the crowd showed their appreciation with a huge cheer around the stadium.

Jason Smith played a memorable final quarter, posting seven points to take his total to 16, giving the match’s top scoring honours.

A disappointed Mark Worthington left the match with 3:40 on the clock in the final term, committing his fifth foul and having scored four points.

The Boomers must now back up and play another match tomorrow night in Ballarat. Their opponents, India, are yet to win a match and shouldn’t pose a problem for the Aussies.

With a travel day ahead of the game, Goorjian will not make the team train. They will have a light shoot around and warm up before the match, which tips off at 8:15pm.