Australia clicked from deep early and that pinned the difference when she hit Lebanon a 93-80 to stay perfect in the Fiba Asia Cup 2025, Friday evening in the King Abdullah Sports City.
The boomers ran to a 20-4 start before they ended the opening quarter with an impressive 31-14 lead, and that was large thanks to their solid shooting after down a quintet of three in that piece.
They would then add three Treys in the next period to finally grow their lead to two decades value at 58-38 that took the break, and their enemies could only try because they had trouble forming a big threat.
The Aussies have now gone 2-0 in group A and can end because it is no. 1 team – which earns an outright berth for the quarterfinals – if they could take care of things against Qatar (0-2) on Sunday at 11:00 am.
“Really happy with the victory. I thought we defended well in the beginning and then struggled to control them afterwards. Credit to them, they just keep coming to you,” offered head coach Adam Caporn.
“Lebanon kept trying things and they are difficult to deal with because they were willing to change things. But on the other hand we did great to move the ball … really happy with the outcome,” he added.
Jaylin Galloway ended with 18 points, of which 10 made in the first quarter when he nailed two of the team’s triples during that piece. The 22-year-old added 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals his count.
Reyne Smith also provided 18 points with 5 rebounds and 3 assists, while Jack McVeigh added 11 points when the Troika reduced an attack in which all 12 players score at least 2 points in the victory of the wire-to-wire.
The loss, on the other hand, was the record evening of Youssef Khayat, who reset his Asia Cup career-high with 22 points to lead the Lebanese. He also had 6 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals.
Ali Mansour made a 12-6-5 Stat line, while Karim Zeinoun and Ali Haidar break in 11 points each for a team that lost the most important guard Sergio El Darwich, who suffered only a few seconds in the game.
It is a serious blow to an already beaten team, which, apart from the missing of Sterwacht Wael Arakji because of a shoulder problem, closely monitors his defense court partner Amir Saoud because of an injury.
But if there is ever one silver lining of the defeat, it is their strong fourth quarter that shows where they defeat the defensive dual champions, 20-9, making the margin respectable.
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