Emerging Boomers join Emerging Opals in quarter finals

The Emerging Boomers qualified for the quarter finals with a big 88-59 win over the Czech Republic in the final game of group play.

The must win match sees the team join the Emerging Opals through to the knockout phase.

It was once again a team effort with the points evenly distributed amongst the field.

Dejan Vasiljevic (University of Miami) kept his hot streak going from game two and led the team in scoring with 21 points.

“A lot of it comes from my team and the coaching,” Vasiljevic said of his recent good form.

“I am not hitting the threes like I would like, but I’ve been more aggressive inside, and my teammates have been feeding me the ball and the coaches have been calling the right plays.”

Captain Jack White (Duke University) stepped up defensively with eight rebounds and three steals and vice-captain Will Magnay (Open Universities) followed suit with five blocks.

After dropping the first game to Israel 92-64 the Emerging Boomers have settled into a winning rhythm.

“We are super confident heading into the quarter finals,” head coach Rob Beverage said.

“It’s never easy in these situations when you’ve got such a short prep time and I think we learned our lesson from the first game when we got our asses handed to us.”

“But the boys have really come together. We are like a tsunami right now. The other teams can see us coming and they need to get out of the way.”

The team finish second in pool A behind Israel and will play in the quarter finals against Argentina on Monday 8 July at 17:30 CEST (1:30 AEST). The Emerging Opals continue their title defence when they take to the court for their quarter final against Chinese Taipei in a replay of the pulsating gold medal game from 2017. It’s on Sunday at 20.00 CEST (4.00am AEST).