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Australia’s men’s basketball coach Brett Brown deemed it a “win by committee” for his team as they and female counterparts the Opals booked their places at next year’s Olympics.
The Boomers and Opals grabbed unassailable 2-0 leads over New Zealand in their best-of-three Oceania championships with wins in Brisbane on Friday night.
Regardless of the results in Sunday’s third game in Sydney, both teams will be in London next year after closing out their series in contrasting styles at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
While the Opals secured their ticket to London with a reasonably comfortable 19-point win over the Tall Ferns, the Boomers needed a special final quarter effort to post their 17-point victory.
Trailing by two points at the end of the third quarter and the game in the balance, Australia dug deep in every facet of the game – rebounding, scoring and defence – to see off the stubborn Tall Blacks 81-64.
They limited New Zealand to just 10 points for the final term – the bulk of which came after Australia’s sensational 23-3 run which secured their passage to London in emphatic style.
Boomer Brad Newley top-scored for his side with 12 points amid a clutch of even and important contributions by all players at both ends of the court.
And that pleased Boomers coach Brown almost as much as the outcome.
“We did it by committee, we did it with a team, it was a true team effort,” Brown said.
“We’ve got depth, we’ve got toughness, we did it with our defence and our defence generated our offence in that (fourth) period.
“To finally close the deal and get it done is a fantastic accomplishment.”
The Opals have given themselves a shot at a fifth successive Olympic Games medal with their 92-73 victory over New Zealand.
Silver medallists at the past three Olympics and bronze medallists in 1996, Australia had won game one in Melbourne on Wednesday night.
Bench tall Elyse Penaluna starred along with giant centre Suzy Batkovic on Friday night, as the Tall Ferns struggled to cope with their size and power in the paint.
Batkovic top-scored with 19 points and pulled down nine rebounds after a similar starring role in game one, while Penaluna poured in 11 of her 17 points in a third quarter burst which swung the match the Opals’ way.
New Zealand’s teams have a second chance to qualify for London through worldwide repechage tournaments to be held next year.
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