Basketball On The Internet.

WITH a fairly impressive Tall Blacks line-up only squeezing past the Philippines 69-66 in Manila last night, the stage is set for a torrid time on Sunday for the Boomers, who only took the second quarter to KO Guam in their FIBA World Cup Asian qualifier in Mangilao Village, Tanner Krebs the match star.

Tied 17-17 at the first break and down 26-27 midway through the second, Australia went on a 16-2 tear and from 42-29 ahead, never was going to be caught.

Tom Wilson's 3-pointer gave the Boomers the lead at 29-27, before Elijah Pepper extended the buffer with a triple. 

Another pair of Pepper triples (en route to 23 points) and Australia was off to a 46-33 halftime lead before pushing on to a 93-80 win.

Finishing with 28 points including 8-of-13 threes, Krebs was the offensive stand-out, his Melbourne United cohort Wilson tickling an international triple-double with 11 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists.

Boomers "bigs", Nick Kay and Sam Froling both produced double-doubles, the former with 10 points, 11 rebounds, the latter with 13 and 10.

The Tall Blacks boasted NBL stars including Sam Mennenga (10 points, 14 rebounds, four assists), Tyrell Harrison, Max Darling, Taine Murray, Carlin Davison, Taylor Britt, Reuben Te Rangi and Tohi Smith-Milner but had their hands full with the Philippines.

Dwight Ramos had a last-gasp three to tie the game for overtime but missed, New Zealand home 69-66.

Australia's last match against the Philippines in 2018 was memorable for all the wrong reasons, though why some in the media thought it appropriate to revisit that night of infamy - obviously they wanted to screen all the ghastly footage one more time - is disappointing but no longer a surprise in today's world.

World Cup, Asian Qualifiers

Australia Boomers 93 (Krebs 28, Pepper 23, Wilson 11, Kay 10;  Kay 11, Froling 10 rebs; Wilson 10 assts) d Guam 80 (Freeman 25, Simon 19, Borja 11; Freeman 9 rebs; Freeman, Simon 4 assts)

New Zealand Tall Blacks 69 (Darling 11, McNaught, Mennenga 10; Mennenga 14 rebs; Mennenga, Ngati 4 assts) d Philippines 66 (Ramos 16, Perez 15, De Liano 10; Edu 11 rebs; Edu, Perez 3 assts)

Pics courtesy of fiba.com