AUS/NZL – Mills fires Aussies to victory

AUCKLAND (FIBA Oceania Championship) - Australia has ridden the hot shooting of star guard Patty Mills to record a come-from-behind 70-59 victory over a tiring New Zealand in Game 1 of the FIBA Oceania Championship in Auckland.

While the Tall Blacks were severely undermanned they looked like a class outfit as they ran up a 39-32 half-time lead.

But as the Boomers upped the pressure in the second half New Zealand’s lack of depth showed, and Mills (20 points, 4 steals) and David Andersen (12 points, 7 rebounds) took over at the offensive end.

New Zealand’s lead was built on brilliant first halves from Corey Webster (14 points) and Mika Vukona (11 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists), but they didn’t have enough help after the intermission.

The Tall Blacks’ star duo sparked their team to a 15-9 lead after nearly six minutes, but the Aussies responded through Mills and when Ryan Broekhoff nailed a buzzer-beating triple the Boomers led 21-18 at the first break.

Two deep triples from Casey Frank to start the second term put the game back on New Zealand’s terms, however, and then Webster and Vukona – whose spin move for a three-point play was one of the plays of the night - extended the margin to as many as eight.

"We definitely expected that,” said Australian forward Joe Ingles.

"Playing at home in the first game of the series … I’m sure they remembered four years ago when they beat us [in Wellington]."

Anthony Petrie (7 points, 4 assists, 3 blocks) set the standard early in the third quarter with a tough move inside, then Mills stepped up with seven quick points to pinch the lead.

"We had some defensive breakdowns,” admitted Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic.

"Some of the baskets he scored were from his quality, some he scored on our mistakes."

But just when it seemed the Boomers were sneaking away a last second triple from Jarrod Kenny reduced the gap to just two with 10 minutes to play.

That would be the last hoorah from New Zealand though, the pressure of Mills and Petrie in particular throwing them out of their usually-disciplined offence as the Boomers cruised to victory.

"Obviously, this is not a result we wanted out of this game," said Vucinic.

"That last quarter, we really dropped in our performance. We just ran out of options and settled too easily for three-point shots, and they had stopped dropping."

Game 2 is in Canberra on Sunday (18 August) with the Tall Blacks needing to win by more than 11 to claim the Oceania Championship and both teams qualify for next year’s FIBA Basketball World Cup.

"It’s (still) going to be tough,” said Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis.

"It’s going to be a war right to the end – I know that about these New Zealand guys."
 

FIBA