Boomers defeat China in game two thriller

The Australian Boomers have defeated China in a thriller in Albany, WA tonight, clinching the victory 69-65 in front of a packed crowd.

For the Boomers, Aron Baynes top scored with 15 points, while Matthew Dellavedova and Mark Worthington both finished with 11 points each.

For China, Sun Yue top-scored for the game with 22 points, while Wang Shipeng finished with 12 points.

A tight first quarter saw the lead change hands multiple times, the Boomers being first out of the blocks through Aron Baynes.

Peter Crawford kept his fine touch from Game One, dropping a couple of tough jump shots in the first, but China managed to steal back the lead through Fangyu, to take a four-point lead late in the quarter.

Boomers young-gun Ryan Broekhoff hit the floor and his first buckets as a Boomer, one a three-point bomb and the second a free-throw to see the Boomers draw level.

A nice drive from guard Ailun Fuo with only seconds remaining saw China snatch the lead, before a running bank three-pointer from Damian Martin right on the quarter time buzzer gave the Boomers back the lead by one going into the quarter-time break.

The second period saw a physical opening, punctuated by a heavy screen in the back-court by Worthington seeing China guard Ailun Fuo hit the deck.

China responded with a big three-pointer from Yue, extending China’s lead out to four points, and when a step-back jump shot from Fuo dropped, China were out to a 26-19 lead.

The Boomer’s shooting slumped to 30 per cent, while China’s field-goal percentage moved up above 50 per cent, and their lead out to 13 points.

The Boomers would then go on a 14-0 run to end the half, suffocating the China side defensively, with Gibson, Kickert and Crawford all contributing as the Boomers went into half time in front by one point.

Australia’s pressure continued into the third, the Boomers finding contributors offensively in Gibson, Baynes and Crawford. They jumped out to a 10 point lead, but despite being pressured into some costly errors offensively, China managed to stay in touch, a big three from Fangyu bridging the gap to just five points at three-quarter time.

The final term was an arm-wrestle, China lifting their own defensive pressure as the game was in the balance.

The Boomers jumped out to a nine-point lead early, before China pegged them back. A break- away dunk by Yue had the lead trimmed to just four points with four minutes left on the clock, and after Wang Zhelin was fouled on a made-bucket, and then converted from the foul-line, the lead was down to one.

The teams traded buckets and in the dying moments, Matthew Dellavedova penetrated and found Aron Baynes for a lay-up with 32 seconds left on the clock, giving the Boomers a five-point advantage.

But China weren’t done: a three pointer from Yue had the game back to within two points, with less than 10 seconds left to play, before young-gun Dellavedova was sent to the line at the other end to ice the game. He made both free-throws putting the game out of reach, securing the win for the Boomers, who take a 2-0 lead in the series.

Australian Boomers 69 (Baynes 15, Dellavedova 11, Worthington 11)
China 65 (Yue 22, Shipeng 12)

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