Gold Medal Boomers Win Asia Cup Crown

For so much of the past two weeks the Australian Boomers looked likely to cruise to a second straight FIBA Asia Cup championship, but Lebanon had other ideas and it was only in a frantic finish that saw Australia claim gold in Sunday's final, winning 75-73.

The Boomers cruised through the group phase of the FIBA Asia Cup 2022 in Indonesia beating Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia before cruising past Japan in the quarter-final and then having to win a tough semi-final battle over New Zealand.

The Boomers then dominated the early stages of Sunday's final against Lebanon in Jakarta racing to a 9-2 and 22-10 advantage on the back of shooting 9/15 in the opening quarter. Australia's lead got out to as much as 16 points midway through the second quarter too but Lebanon just didn’t go away.

It can't be ignored that Australia's free-throw shooting of 8/21 for the night helped keep the door ajar too and despite the Boomers appearing in control virtually the whole game, Lebanon almost snatched it late.

Despite the Boomers still leading by 11 with two minutes to go, all of a sudden when Wael Arakji hit another three with 5.3 seconds to go it was a one-point ball game. 

Rhys Vague hit one free-throw to put Australia back up two, but there was still time for Lebanon. However, staggeringly Ali Haidar threw up a halfcourt prayer despite time still on the clock and the Boomers held on to win 75-73.

That means that Australia has now won back-to-back Asia Cup tournaments after also winning in Lebanon back in 2017.

Thon Maker produced 14 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three blocks in the final for the Boomers with Mitch McCarron adding 12 points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals, and Tyrese Proctor 10 points and four boards.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Attention NBL clubs with roster spots available in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a><br><br>Just saying.<br><br>via <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBAAsiaCup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FIBAAsiaCup</a> <a href="https://t.co/hBWaQmFbyo">pic.twitter.com/hBWaQmFbyo</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1551197875756969984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Will McDowell-White added eight points, six assists and five rebounds, Wani Swaka Lo Buluk eight points and two assists, Rhys Vague seven points, Alex Ducas five points, Sam Froling five points and three rebounds, David Okwera four points, and Sam McDaniel two points and three boards.

Wael Arakji was almost the hero late for Lebanon and finished the final with 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists while shooting 5/6 from downtown. Ali Haidar added 23 points and nine boards.

Meanwhile, the Asia Cup tournament awards were announced post-match with the All-Star Five featuring Australia's Maker and McCarron. Lebanon's Arakji was named MVP.

The majority of the Boomers players will be returning home to ramp up preparations for #NBL23 including captain Mitch McCarron back to the Adelaide 36ers, Sam Froling and Wani Swaka Lo Buluk to the Illawarra Hawks, and Will McDowell-White to the New Zealand Breakers.

Sam McDaniel and the injured Clint Steindl will be back to the Tasmania JackJumpers, David Okwera to Melbourne United and Keanu Pinder to the Cairns Taipans.

Of the rest of the squad, Alex Ducas will return to Saint Mary's, Tyrese Proctor will begin life at Duke University, Rhys Vague will return to Japan and Thon Maker is still yet to decide where his immediate future lies.

The Boomers made a flying start to the final and after Thon Maker, Sam Froling and Mitch McCarron all scored, Rhys Vague drained the three ball for the 9-2 lead.

McCarron then hit a three before Maker threw down a thunderous one-handed slam coming down the lane, and then three balls to Wani Swaka Lo Buluk and Will McDowell-White ensured the Boomers were up 22-10 by quarter-time.

Australia shot 9/15 opposed to 3/16 from Lebanon in the first quarter and then three balls to McDowell-White and Proctor along with another huge Maker dunk saw the lead grow to 15.

It was soon a game-high 16 points thanks to David Okwera but Lebanon finished the half strongly to bring the deficit back to 10 at the break.

Australia continued to have all the answers any time Lebanon threatened to make a run. Just as the margin was back to 11 late in the third quarter, Alex Ducas hit a three-pointer for Australia and the margin was still 14 by three quarter-time.

Huge triples from Vague, Proctor and Swaka Lo Buluk kept the Boomers up double-figures most of the last quarter too, until the frantic two minutes.

An and-one play from Elie Chamoun brought Lebanon within six, before Wael Arakji hit two free-throws, scored a layup and then hit a three from way downtown to make it the one-point ball game with 5.3 seconds left.

However, Proctor had just hit two massive free-throws for Australia and then one from Vague kept the lead at two, and the Boomers held on for a second straight Asia Cup gold medal.

Meanwhile, New Zealand beat Jordan earlier on Sunday in the bronze medal playoff with the Tall Blacks claiming the 83-75 victory. Tohi Smith-Milner was the star for New Zealand in the win with 25 points with seven three-pointers while Takiula Fahrensohn added 19 points and Sam Timmins 12.

FIBA ASIA CUP 2022 – FINAL

AUSTRALIAN BOOMERS 75 (Maker 14, McCarron 12, Proctor 10)

LEBANON 73 (Arakji 28, Haidar 23, El Darwich 7)

BOX SCORE