Australia leads China 38-24 at halftime on Thursday as its Olympic hopefuls look to make the most of one final chance to push for selection in Brian Goorjian’s 12-man Boomers squad.
The Boomers took a 16-6 lead after a sloppy first quarter which saw them shoot just 27 per cent from the field, although China at 23 per cent wasn’t any better.
China also committed seven turnovers but Australia was equally poor with its ball-handling, turning it over five times and struggling to get into an offensive rhythm.
Josh Green was one of Australia’s best in the first quarter, using his athleticism to make big plays on both ends while Jack McVeigh made his first 3-point attempt of the game to continue to establish himself as the Boomers’ most in-form shooter.
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Overall though it was Australia’s on-ball defence that was the highlight from the opening stages of the game and it had to be given the team’s shooting struggles early in the piece.
It was much of the same in the second quarter as Patty Mills forced a turnover which he converted into a layup on the other end and China continued to gift the Boomers more opportunities, although Australia was not always as clinical in capitalising on them.
The Boomers’ ball movement improved later in the quarter, with a string of drives and kickbacks ending with Dyson Daniels drawing a foul before Green found Nick Kay with a slingshot of a pass.
For China, Hansen Yang was the standout and causing all kinds of problems on both ends with his size at 7-foot-1, finishing the half with five points, eight rebounds, three assists and three blocks in just 12 minutes.
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