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 towards 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, one of the best by a Boomer since Patty Mills famously poured in 42 factors towards Slovenia to safe Australia’s bronze medal on the Tokyo Olympics.
Guard Kyle Adnam chimed in with 20 factors as Australia topped Group F with an 11-1 file – their solely loss was a forfeit when they didn’t journey to Iran beneath authorities recommendation.
In the meantime, Kazakhstan completed second-last with a 5-7 file, 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 rely, 20 of their 28 coming earlier than halftime.
Behind their disruptive, aggressive protection, the hosts obtained the early bounce however their wayward taking pictures 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 prices 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 have 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 obtained cooking within the fourth and Adelaide 36ers growth participant Nick Marshall, with a steal and a dunk, scored his first factors as a Boomer as Australia coasted to the end line.
