Todd Blanchfield’s masterclass has helped Australia end their males’s World Cup Asian qualifying marketing campaign with a convincing 98-53 victory over Kazakhstan in Melbourne.
Coming off a troublesome NBL season with Perth, Blanchfield, who top-scored in opposition to Bahrain three days earlier, proved an excessive amount of for Kazakhstan on the State Basketball Heart on Sunday.
The veteran swingman knocked down seven three-pointers in his 31-point haul, the perfect by a Boomer since Patty Mills famously poured in 42 factors in opposition to Slovenia to safe Australia’s bronze medal on the Tokyo Olympics.
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Guard Kyle Adnam chimed in with 20 factors as Australia topped Group F with an 11-1 report – their solely loss was a forfeit when they didn’t journey to Iran underneath authorities recommendation.
In the meantime, Kazakhstan completed second-last with a 5-7 report, their 12-point loss to China in Hong Kong final Thursday successfully eliminating them from the World Cup race.
Reserve ahead Ruslain Aitkali (12 factors at 63 per cent) impressed for the vacationers, who matched the Aussies early however got here undone by a horrific turnover depend, 20 of their 28 coming earlier than halftime.
Behind their disruptive, aggressive protection, the hosts bought the early soar however their wayward capturing allowed Kazakhstan to shut the hole to 26-22 halfway by means of the second time period.
Boomers coach Dean Vickerman had seen sufficient and referred to as a time-out.
His expenses responded with an 18-Zero burst, capped by Dan Grida’s dunk as Kazakhstan fell aside on offense.
Beginning guards Oleg Balashov and Rustam Murzagaliyev had been the worst offenders, combining for 5 factors and 14 turnovers.
Blanchfield caught hearth with 16 third-quarter factors in six minutes as Australia outscored Kazakhstan 33-11 to stretch their 46-27 halftime cushion to 79-38 at three-quarter-time.
Adnam bought cooking within the fourth and Adelaide 36ers improvement participant Nick Marshall, with a steal and a dunk, scored his first factors as a Boomer as Australia coasted to the end line.
– AAP
