Australia begin Asia Cup title defense bid with comeback win over Korea

BENDIGO (Australia) - Australia taught Korea a lesson on endgame management by way of a 85-71 come-from-behind victory to raise the curtains of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers' opening window, Thursday at the sold-out Red Energy Arena.

The Boomers erupted for 32 big points in the fourth quarter, relying on the vast experience provided by Nick Kay and Mitch McCarron to complete the rally after being down by as many as 13 early en route to a rousing start to their title defense bid.

Game heroes: Kay top-scored in the win with 21 points on a 50-percent clip, alongside 12 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal in over 30 minutes to net an efficiency of 27.

Dejan Vasiljevic supplied 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists. Ben Henshall proved his worth as well on his national team debut by producing 14 points as well.

Joshua Bannan chipped in a double-double of his own with 11 points and 11 rebounds to help the home team ace a hard test given by their Korean counterparts.

Turning point: Australia were trailing by six, 61-55, but tied things up behind a three-point play conversion by Bannan and a triple by Vasiljevic with 6:29 remaining in the fourth.

Momentum would begin to swing their way since. Although Song Kyo-chang gave Korea a 65-64 lead approaching the five-minute mark, the Boomers could no longer be stopped, with Kay sparking a run towards a 75-65 advantage with 2:59 left to take full control of the match.

Stats don't lie: Australia overcame their 19 turnovers by dominating the rebounding battle, 52-38. Their ball movement made a difference as well, racking up 23 assists.

They said: "I just really enjoyed the group. There’s been an energy and excitement and appreciation of wearing the green and gold. We knew coming into this game that it was gonna be patchy on the offensive end since you only got a couple of days together. I told them afterwards, I like the way they won. I thought we got some contributions from guys like Ben Henshaw, who hasn’t played in the NBL virtually, hasn’t played many minutes, and it was an important game for us. This is one of the teams are the big ones. We got a lot of contributions from a lot of people." - Brian Goorjian, Head Coach, Australia

"Just to piggyback off what Goorj said, two days worth of practice, we started off not a bit sloppy but I think we didn’t quit. The Boomers are all about fight, all about grit, and we showed that. Ben Henshaw came in and gave us great minutes; Nick Kay led us, and then everybody else on the bench were active, they were up and about, they got the crowd involved, and I think that just turned it in." - Dejan Vasiljevic, Australia

"We obviously played a good game until the third quarter, but I think rebounds killed us today. Our players fought hard despite giving them a lot of boards. I think Australia is a really good team so we give props to that." - Joon Ho An, Head Coach, Korea

"I think we was up by four, but the fourth quarter I felt like maybe the crowd got to us a little bit, guys are a little tired, and you guys a re a great team, one of the best basketball countries in the world. It’s an honor for me to play here, and for us to come out here and try to give you guys the best that we have, Korea we a small team but we have a lot of heart. I think that we went out there and showed it tonight. We just have to finish better." - Ra Gun-ah, Korea

FIBA