The Emerging Boomers have rebounded strongly after a disappointing loss to Israel yesterday, beating Mexico 105-62 at the Palacercola in their second pool match.
Looking to make amends for yesterday’s loss against the gold medal favourites, the Emerging Boomers, came out of the blocks firing, racing out to a 32-15 quarter time lead. The team kept that momentum going into the second quarter led by guard Dejan Vasiljevic (Miami University) who scored 20 first half points to give Australia a 28-point advantage going into halftime.
A 32-point third quarter then allowed head coach Rob Beveridge to share the minutes around amongst the squad in the final quarter, with all 12 UniRoos seeing action, as the game closed out with Australia taking the victory by 43 points.
Four players scored in double digits with Vasiljevic leading with 20 followed by Stanford’s Isaac White with 15 who was four-for-six from the three-point line.
Coach Beveridge was pleased with the way his team responded after a tough day yesterday.
“We were going up against one of the most drilled, athletic, hard-nosed teams I’ve been up against, and they simply taught us a lesson,” Beveridge said of Israel.
“But it was good for us to get our asses kicked to show that if we’re going to compete then this is how we have to play.”
“We have some tough-minded players who were disappointed with their efforts, and it’s not the Australian way to be kicked like we were last night, so it was important that we responded with a better aggressive mindset the way we did.”
Beveridge was also optimistic that the team will continue to improve as the competition progresses.
“It’s really difficult to go into a world championship like this where the preparation is so short. We’ve only had four hours together training,” Beveridge said.
“As we go along, I think we will get better, if we continue to go out with that type of mindset, with the trapping and setting and running, and I think that is who we are as Australians.”
The Emerging Booms take on the Czech Republic in their final pool match tomorrow, Saturday 6 July at 20:00 CEST (4:00 AEST), where a win will guarantee a place in the quarter finals.