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ASIA CUP MEN: It took almost two weeks to reach it but today's Asia Cup Gold Medal game was an instant international classic, X-Factor Cooks and the tournament's ultimate MVP Jaylin Galloway pacing the Boomers to a third straight championship beating an aggressive China 90-89.

Critics of the FIBA tournament's blatantly obvious inequities finally had a geniuinely exciting, edge-of-your-seat finale, right down to Mingxuan Hu's missed 3-point attempt to steal back the game and William Hickey throwing the rebound the length of the floor in robust jubilation.

It was a terrific game of basketball, made dramatic by the fact China led by as many as 15 points, the Aussies fought back and then practically blew it at the free throw line from where they were a mind-numbingly awful 12-of-26.

Xavier Cooks, who put his A-game on show at just the right time to pair a tournament-high 30 points on 13-of-17 shooting with a team-best nine boards, unfortunately was the worst offender with 4-of-11 from the charity stripe.

His Sydney Kings NBL teammate Galloway was the Boomers' best from the line with 3-of-4 in yet another exceptional performance that clinched the Cup's MVP award.

Galloway went off for 23 points, which included 6-of-10 threes, plus five boards and three assists, bringing his tournament averages to 14.2 points at 67 per cent shooting from deep, 3.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.4 steals, steering Australia's Asia Cup win-loss record to 18-0 over three campaigns.

His two last-quarter triples for an 81-80 lead, then an 84-82 buffer, were huge as were some of the plays Hickey finished.

Hickey's first quarter block of Rui Zhao's 3-point attempt which he then turned into a fast break slam dunk was a time capsule moment to savour long after the dust has settled in Jeddah.

So was his last quarter putback of a rushed long range miss by Jack McVeigh (11 points), Hickey another revelation this tournament with a 15-point, 7-rebound, 5-assist, 2-block Gold Medal game.

Paris Olympian McVeigh joined Galloway in the Asia Cup All Star Five, delivering 13.5ppg, 2.0rpg, 1.8apg and some of his most committed defensive efforts.

The final minutes of this Final were as tense and dramatic as they come, the Boomers standing up when it mattered but only escaping with the win at the whim of the Basketball Gods.

When Mingxuan Hu faked, had Cooks do a fly-by and finally let that last 3-point attempt fly, he was 5-of-6 from outside the arc. Fortunately for the Boomers, he finished 5-of-7.

Winning the Asia Cup for a third straight time - only achieved once before, and by China - really was Australia's only option.

It put enormous and unrelenting pressure on coaching debutante Adam Caporn and his new-look staff. When you're 12-0 in two previous Asia Cups, you know there is only one acceptable result.

Detractors of the tournament point at its value, or lack thereof, to the Boomers and to Australia's strength in the region.

When you look at a 44-point semi final win over Iran on top of four previous double-digit routs by what isn't even our A-team, it's easy to arrive at the conclusion the Asia Cup is a waste of our time.

But sometimes, it can't just be all about us. What value were the Barcelona Olympic Games, for example, to the USA's superlative Dream Team? They won every game by an average of 43 points.

But it wasn't just about them. It was about what the sport needed for its continued healthy growth and development. The opposition wanted to play against the very best and revelled in it.

The same can be said of the Asia Cup. It gives the nations in our region the chance to see where they sit in the world by going up against the best ... which happens to be the Boomers.

Did they get much out of the Asia Cup?

Hell yes. Caporn showed he is not out of his depth. Yes, argue the Boomers killing most everyone was not a major test. But, as already stated, the Boomers had only one option - win or be damned.

And they won. When it came down to the biggest game, Australia won. Caporn effectively reduced his rotation to nine, his team throughout played solid defence and unselfish offence and they secured the result, Hu's miss notwithstanding.

So at his first time at bat, Caporn hits a home run. And come on now. Who expected him to not only unearth but unleash a talent like Galloway?

Who thought ahead of time Owen Foxwell would grow in the role of starting PG instead of remaining the tragically injured Sean MacDonald's understudy?

We saw Hickey also emerge, channelling his athleticism and skill while Will Magnay as captain gave notice he is a leader.

Did we know all that before this Asia Cup?

GROUP A: Australia Boomers 97 (McVeigh 20, Galloway 12, Hickey 11, Cooks 10; White, Magnay 8 rebs; Foxwell 3 assts) d Korea 61 (J Lee 20, H Lee 11, S Lee 9; H Lee 9 rebs; Yang 3 assts); Lebanon 84 d Qatar 80; Korea 97 d Qatar 83, Australia Boomers 93 (Galloway, Smith 18, McVeigh 11; White 10 rebs; Hickey 9 assts) d Lebanon 80 (Khayat 22, Mansour 12, Haidar, Zeinoun 11; Khayat, Mansour 6 rebs; Mansour 5 assts); Australia Boomers 110 (Galloway 24, Smith, Hickey 15, Magnay 11, McVeigh 10; Wessels, Cooks 6 rebs; Hickey 8 assts) d Qatar 82 (Goodwin 24, Harris 15, Dieng14, Bedri, Hadzibegovic 13; Goodwin 7 rebs; Goodwin 5 assts ); Korea 97 d Lebanon 86. Final: 1 Australia Boomers 3-0, 2 Korea 2-1, 3 Lebanon, 4 Qatar 0-3.

GROUP B: Japan 99 d Syria 68, Iran 77 d Guam 52; Iran 78 d Japan 70; Guam 82 d Syria 73; Iran 82 d Syria 43, Japan 102 d Guam 63. Final: 1 Iran 3-0, 2 Japan 2-1, 3 Guam 1-2, 4 Syria 0-3.

GROUP C: Jordan 91 d India 84, China 93 d Saudi Arabia 88; China 100 d India 69, Saudi Arabia 77 d Jordan 73; China 90 d Jordan 68, Saudi Arabia 84 d India 59. Final: 1 China 3-0, 2 Saudi Arabia 2-1, Jordan 1-2, 4 India 0-3.

GROUP D: New Zealand Tall Blacks 100 (Britt 21, King 18, Smith-Milner 13, Davison 12; Davison 8 rebs; Britt 6 assts) d Iraq 78, Chinese Taipei 95 d Philippines 87; Chinese Taipei 87 d Iraq 60, New Zealand Tall Blacks 94 (Ngatai 22, Britt 19, Cameron 12, King 11; Gold 11 rebs; Britt 8 assts) d Philippines 86; Philippines 66 d Iraq 57; New Zealand Tall Blacks 118 (Cameron 28, King 22, Gold, Britt 14; Cameron, Davison 9 rebs; Cameron 8 assts) d Chinese Taipei 78. Final: 1 New Zealand Tall Blacks 3-0, 2 Chinese Taipei 2-1, 3 Philippines 1-2, 4 Iraq 0-3.

QUALIFICATION TO QUARTER-FINALS: Chinese Taipei 78 d Jordan 64, Philippines 95 d Saudi Arabia 88, Korea 99 d Guam 66, Lebanon 97 d Japan 73.

QUARTER FINALS: Australia Boomers 84 (Galloway, Foxwell 15, McVeigh 12, Magnay, Cooks 10; White 8 rebs; Hickey 4 asst) d Philippines 60 (Quiambaio 17, Ramos 15, Brownlee 10; Edu 8 rebs; Brownlee 4 assts). Iran 78 d Chinese Taipei 75. China 79 d Korea 71, New Zealand Tall Blacks 90 (King 23, Darling 18, Smith-Milner 13, Cameron 12; Darling 9 rebs; Davison 5 assts) d Lebanon 86.

SEMI FINALS: China 98 (Zhao 24, Wang 14, M.Hu 13, J.Hu, Liao 12; J.Hu 8 rebs; Zhao 6 assts) d New Zealand Tall Blacks 84 (Britt 21, King 19, Cameron, Smith-Milner 11; Cameron 5 rebs; Britt 6 assts); Australia Boomers 92 (McVeigh 17, Wessels 16, Hickey 14, White 11; Hickey 6 rebs; Hickey 6 assts) d Iran 48 (Vahedi 11, Sheikhi 8, Monji 6; Zangeneh 4 rebs; Kazemi, Sheikhi 3 assts).

For Bronze: Iran 79 (Jafari 22, Vahedi 19, Kazemi 16, Aghajanpour 14; Kazemi 15 rebs; Jafari 5 assts) d New Zealand Tall Blacks 73 (Cameron 18, King 13, Davison 9; Davison 9 rebs; 6 with 2 assts).

For Gold: Australia Boomers 90 (Cooks 30, Galloway 23, Hickey 15, McVeigh 11; Cooks 9 rebs; Hickey, Magnay 5 assts) d China 89 (M.Hu 26, J.Hu 20, Cheng 12, Zhao 10; J.Hu 10 rebs; Zhao 6 assts).

Asia Cup All Star Five: Sina Vahedi (Iran), Jaylin Galloway (Australia), Jack McVeigh (Australia), Hu Jinqiu (China), Wang Junjie (China).

Asia Cup MVP: Jaylin Galloway (Australia)

All pics courtesy of fiba.com