JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia) – Australia clicked from deep early and that spelled the difference as they handed Lebanon a 93-80 beating to stay perfect in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025, Friday night at the King Abdullah Sports City.
The Boomers raced to a 20-4 start before finishing the opening quarter with a commanding 31-14 lead, and that was big thanks to their solid outside shooting after knocking down a quintet of threes in that stretch.
They’d then add three more treys in the following period to eventually grow their lead to two decades’ worth at 58-38 entering the intermission, and their foes struggled to respond as they were simply too much.
So lopsided was the affair that it hardly resembled the two programs’ 2022 Final duel, leaving the pro-Cedars crowd silenced for most of the match after what was thought to be a playoff-like joust turned out differently.
The Aussies have now gone 2-0 in Group A, and can finish as its no. 1 team – which merits an outright berth in the Quarter-Finals – if they could take care of business against Qatar on Sunday at 11:00 local time.
Jaylin Galloway finished with 18 points, 10 of which he made in the first quarter as he nailed two of the team’s triples during that stretch. The 22-year-old added 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals to his tally.
Reyne Smith provided 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, while Jack McVeigh added 11 points as the trio bannered an offense that saw all 12 players score at least 2 points in the wire-to-wire win.
*This article will be updated.