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ASIA CUP MEN: A 3-point second quarter barrage by Paris Olympian Jack McVeigh tonight sent Australia racing away from Korea for a 97-61 opening round win in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as the "Baby Boomers" of new coach Adam Caporn successfully began their title defence.

In their third Asia Cup and pursuing a championship threepeat not achieved in 20 years, the Boomers had every player on the 12-man roster scoring as it left Korea in its rearview mirror.

Jumping to a 7-0 start with Owen Foxwell and Jaylin Galloway joining Xavier Cooks in the early onslaught, it was Illawarra Hawks NBL championship winner Hyunjung Lee who finally put Korea on the board.

The game stayed competitive until McVeigh (20 points, 5-of-7 threes) stuck a 3-pointer at 6:26 in the second period, followed by another at 5:39, a third 30 seconds later and a fourth at 4:36 for a 40-29 lead. That blew out to 48-31 by halftime and Korea was done.

Unsurprisingly, Australia had multiple contributors in multiple areas, late call-up Josh Bannan with seven rebounds inside nine minutes of court time, Will Magnay and Jack White with eight boards apiece, Galloway's 12 points off 4-of-5 threes.

Typically, William "Davo" Hickey was active everywhere and Dash Daniels, at 17 the youngest member of a team averaging 24 years of age, did well with his late minutes.

There was much to like about Caporn's first genuine international, the ordinary manner of the home win over Colorado last week now a distant memory. (Except for Sean MacDonald, who tragically suffered an ACL tear in that warm-up contest.) 

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.

GROUP B: Japan 99 d Syria 68, Iran 77 d Guam 52. 

GROUP C: Jordan 91 d India 84, China 93 d Saudi Arabia 88.

GROUP D: New Zealand Tall Blacks 100 (Britt 21, King 18, Smith-Milner 11) d Iraq 78, Chinese Taipei 95 d Philippines 87.

All pics courtesy of fiba.com