Emus squash Syria to advance at World Championship
The Emus have advanced to the Eighth Final rounds at the FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Men as the top seed from Group C, after crushing Syria 96-54 this morning in Auckland, New Zealand.
The Australians posted their highest score of the tournament and stepped up their defensive effort to shut down any hope Syria had of getting back into the game.
Australia’s big men dominated the game, easily finding points in the paint and outrebounding Syria 42-28. 208cm centre Matthew Hodgson led the Emus with 17 points in his first minutes at the championship, while forwards Mitchell Young and Brock Motum added 14 and 13 points respectively. Syria’s Mahmoud Osfira led all scorers with 20 points.
The Emus jumped out to an early lead and despite sending Syria to the charity stripe eight times they extended their lead to 15 points at the first break. Syria converted just 50 per cent from the line in the term.
Emus forward Young had a monster second quarter, exploding for eight points, four rebounds and one block in the term as Australia continued to push.
Unlike their earlier games where the Emus had allowed sides to stay in touch, this time they did not let up and extended their lead to 24 points at halftime and 28 points at the final break, 72-44.
A 7-0 start to the fourth quarter gave the Aussies added breathing space and as Hodgson bagged 11 of his 17 points the Emus ran out winners by 42.
The Emus now advance to Group F in the Eighth Final rounds where they will be joined by Canada and Spain, and the top three teams from Group D; Croatia, Argentina and the winner of the final preliminary round match between New Zealand and Kazakhstan, to be played at 5.30pm tonight AEST.
In the Eighth Final rounds Australia will only play the teams from Group D, starting with the winner of New Zealand/Kazakhstan at 3.00pm Monday AEST. The top four teams from Group F will advance to the Quarter Finals.
In the other game this morning the USA easily accounted for Egypt 112-55.
Quarter by quarter:
1: AUST 27 SYR 12
H: AUST 53 SYR 29 (26-17)
3: AUST 72 SYR 44 (19-15)
F: AUST 96 SYR 54 (24-10)
AUSTRALIA 96 (Matthew Hodgson 17, Mitchell Young 14, Brock Motum 13) bt
SYRIA 54 (Mahmoud Osfira 20, Tarek Al Jabe 18, Samer Bawadekji 8)
At North Shore Events Centre, Auckland New Zealand
Game 1: Emus conquer Canada in Worlds opener
Game 2: Emus eclipse Spain at World Championship
Photo courtesy of FIBA.com
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