ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia) - Australia moved closer from sweeping their way into the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2025 Quarter-Finals following a 131-42 dismantling of India, Monday at the MBank Arena.
The reigning three-time champions were masterful right from the get-go, opening up with a 20-8 outburst before building a massive 64-22 halftime lead to eventually take the provisional lead in Group A at 2-0.
It was yet another balanced attack from the Crocs, with Will Hamilton leading the bask with 22 points and 6 rebounds. Lucas Byrne came through with 20 points alongside 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
Isaiah Jorgenson also registered 20 points, which he laced with 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 of the team's 24 steals, and 3 blocks, doing all that without committing a single turnover that led to an efficiency of 30.
Tom Dammers and Alex Edwards chipped in 10 points apiece as five finished in double figures. All players of Coach Greg Vanderjagt contributed at least 4 points in the wire-to-wire win that kept India winless (0-2).
Aiming for an unprecedented 'four-peat,' the Crocs can clinch the no. 1 spot and head straight into the final eight should they beat Lebanon on Tuesday, September 2, 11:30 local time at the Buyant Ukhaa Sport Complex.
The young Cedars could've made that clash interesting, but their bid of also going 2-0 got foiled.
That, after Bahrain came from behind and ultimately frustrated the WABA champions, 70-68, behind a clutch performance by the promising Somto Patrick to chalk up their first win of the tournament.
Patrick played all 40 minutes and finished with 23 points, 23 rebounds, and an eye-popping 9 blocks as he did a little bit of everything from both ends of the floor especially in crunch time to give themselves the W.
He tied things up at 68-all with a conversion inside with 50.3 seconds to go, and then emphatically swatted away Charbel El Herara's attempt on the other end before the crew forced a shot clock violation.
Patrick would go on to make the game's most important play, taking it strong the hoop before banking in the shot against the tough defense to nail the go-ahead bucket with only 4.3 seconds remaining.
The Lebanese couldn't find a good look in a bid to snatch the game and the GBA Qualifiers winners went on to erupt in jubilation as they completed the comeback after trailing by as many as 14 at one point.
Hassan Abdulkadir had 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks while Ali Husain Mohamed added 10 for the Bahrainis, who hiked their record to 1-1 and could follow it up with another against India on Tuesday at 14:00 local time.
El Herera and Sawma, on the other hand, led Lebanon with 17 points each. Mauricio Abboud, who gave them the 68-66 lead through a short floater with 1:04 to go, had 16 points and 18 rebounds in the loss.
FIBA