Boomers hold on to beat China in thriller to claim third straight Asia Cup
There could not have been a tighter finish, with China missing a go-ahead shot as time expired.
It was a supreme team effort but leading the way for the Boomers was the unstoppable Xavier Cooks, who paved the way with 30 points on 13-of-17 shooting.
He also collected nine rebounds and constantly broke down China's defence with his drives. He was named the game's most valuable player.
Jaylin Galloway, playing in his first Asia Cup final, also rose to the occasion, drilling six triples on his way to 23 points and five rebounds. He was later named the tournament's MVP and nominated in the All Star Five along with fellow Boomer Jack McVeigh.
William Hickey delivered when it mattered most, finishing with 15 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks, including clutch plays down the stretch.
For China, Hu Mingxuan carried the offensive load with 26 points, including five three-pointers, while veteran big man Hu Jinqiu supplied a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double that kept his team in contention until the final seconds.
China struck first with a strong opening frame behind Jinqiu's inside scoring and Mingxuan's timely shooting, building a 25-17 lead.
That cushion stretched to 36-21 in the second quarter, before Cooks powered a furious Australian fightback, trimming the deficit to just four at halftime.
The third quarter saw momentum swing wildly. Galloway's fastbreak slam capped a 9-0 surge that briefly put the Boomers ahead, only for China to hit back with big triples from Cheng Shuaipeng and Lei Meng.
Galloway's buzzer-beating corner three left Australia trailing by just three entering the final frame, setting the stage for a tense finish.
Cooks and Galloway combined for clutch baskets, while Mingxuan answered with big shots of his own. Hickey's backdoor finish, a key putback and Will Magnay's huge block kept Australia in front by the slimmest of margins.
With under a minute left, Hickey's uncontested putback gave the Boomers the lead for good before Cooks and Zhao Rui traded free-throws. Mingxuan's potential game-winner at the buzzer bounced off the iron, sealing the 90-89 victory for coach Adam Caporn's side.
For Australia, the win in Saudi Arabia means more than just another trophy. Since debuting in 2017, the Boomers have been untouchable in Asia Cup play, now boasting an 18-0 record and cementing themselves as the modern powerhouse of Asian basketball.
AAP
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Sydney Morning Herald
44 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Alex Johnston has scored 209 NRL tries. We mapped every single one of them
Never the biggest. Often not even the fastest. And by many measures of a modern winger, which he freely acknowledges, not the best. Nonetheless, Alex Johnston sits on the precipice of rugby league history. Three four-pointers shy of equalling Ken Irvine's all-time Australian record of 212 tries, it is not a matter of if Johnston breaks new ground. Or even when, with two games against the Dragons and Roosters to come this season. The Rabbitohs flyer turns 31 in January and is on South Sydney's books for another two years. His try-scoring feats are really a matter of just how far will he go – and how much further can he extend one of rugby league's more astounding numbers? Particularly when you break down exactly how he's got to this very point – 209 tries and counting. Johnston makes no bones about playing outside the best left edge of the past five years. He knows Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell have put plenty of his tries on a platter, and told the Herald exactly that this week. 'I love playing with 'T-Mitt' [Mitchell],' Johnston said. 'Cody Walker has given me most of my tries, but Trell would be the second most.' The boot of Adam Reynolds and the brute force of Greg Inglis are more than handy options to call upon as well. Burgess brothers Sam and George, Manly enforcer Nathan Brown and now-Rabbitohs staffer John Sutton have all leant a hand over the years as well. Johnston's place atop rugby league's greatest try-scorers is assured. Immortals in waiting, premiership-winners, Origin and Kangaroos champions all lie in his wake. Between them, the top 11 (Matt Sing and Hazem El Masri rank equal 10th on 159 tries) try-scorers in history have crossed the line no less than 1960 times. And as to how far can Johnston go? Champion Data has pegged his average try-scoring haul at 17.2 tries per season, or almost nine tries from every 10 games he has played. Injuries have curtailed that rate in the past two seasons. But Johnston has a new two-year deal with Souths that will see him through 2026 and 2027. And it's hard to imagine the likes of Walker, Mitchell, Cameron Murray and the like playing any less than they have in the past 18 months – so a yearly haul of 12-14 tries to match his past two seasons seems a fair, if conservative, stab. As reported by this masthead, Johnston has a clause in his new Rabbitohs deal to negotiate at any time with the incoming PNG franchise for 2028, by which point Johnston will be 33. If he's still playing, the smart money is it will be for the NRL's newest side. Adding another 20-30 tries by the time retirement calls feels like a reasonable estimate, so too a new high-water mark of 230-240 tries. And as for who could eventually take the record from him? Daniel Tupou (182 tries and 34 years old) and Josh Addo-Carr (153 tries, 30) are his closest contemporaries, but time is against them. Titans flyer Alofiana Khan-Pereira is the only current player who can trump Johnston's strike-rate. But he's struggled for a game this year at the wooden spooners too. Ronaldo Mulitalo's record surprises a little, with both he and Xavier Coates in with a shot if they keep playing and scoring for another decade. As we mention Tupou, the once baby giraffe who came to truly dominate the airways and left wing for the Roosters, he and Johnston have been the game's most consistent try-scorers of the past decade. Tupou's hat-trick against Canterbury took him past Steve 'Beaver' Menzies into fourth on the all-time list just last week, and he will play on into his 15th season at Moore Park. The double century beckons. Looking at Johnston's year-on-year record, it effectively boils down to this: if he's on the paddock, he's scoring tries. The 2018 campaign – when Souths played a preliminary final under Anthony Seibold and Johnston played the entire year at fullback – is the only season when Johnston was fit and didn't finish with a bagful of tries. The 2021 and 2022 seasons are particular, record-breaking outliers (no-one else scored 30 tries in back-to-back seasons) for Johnston thanks to the introduction of set restarts and attacking players like Walker and Mitchell running riot. Lastly, spare a thought for the Tigers – who always seem to feature in these types of statistics from the past decade, for obvious reasons. Johnston's 20 tries against the joint-venture make them his favourite rival, closely followed by Parramatta and the Roosters (18 apiece). The Rabbitohs won't play finals this year, and are doing well to dodge the wooden spoon. But Johnston securing his share of rugby league history against the Tricolours would go down a treat on the cardinal and myrtle side of Anzac Parade.
The Age
44 minutes ago
- The Age
Alex Johnston has scored 209 NRL tries. We mapped every single one of them
Never the biggest. Often not even the fastest. And by many measures of a modern winger, which he freely acknowledges, not the best. Nonetheless, Alex Johnston sits on the precipice of rugby league history. Three four-pointers shy of equalling Ken Irvine's all-time Australian record of 212 tries, it is not a matter of if Johnston breaks new ground. Or even when, with two games against the Dragons and Roosters to come this season. The Rabbitohs flyer turns 31 in January and is on South Sydney's books for another two years. His try-scoring feats are really a matter of just how far will he go – and how much further can he extend one of rugby league's more astounding numbers? Particularly when you break down exactly how he's got to this very point – 209 tries and counting. Johnston makes no bones about playing outside the best left edge of the past five years. He knows Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell have put plenty of his tries on a platter, and told the Herald exactly that this week. 'I love playing with 'T-Mitt' [Mitchell],' Johnston said. 'Cody Walker has given me most of my tries, but Trell would be the second most.' The boot of Adam Reynolds and the brute force of Greg Inglis are more than handy options to call upon as well. Burgess brothers Sam and George, Manly enforcer Nathan Brown and now-Rabbitohs staffer John Sutton have all leant a hand over the years as well. Johnston's place atop rugby league's greatest try-scorers is assured. Immortals in waiting, premiership-winners, Origin and Kangaroos champions all lie in his wake. Between them, the top 11 (Matt Sing and Hazem El Masri rank equal 10th on 159 tries) try-scorers in history have crossed the line no less than 1960 times. And as to how far can Johnston go? Champion Data has pegged his average try-scoring haul at 17.2 tries per season, or almost nine tries from every 10 games he has played. Injuries have curtailed that rate in the past two seasons. But Johnston has a new two-year deal with Souths that will see him through 2026 and 2027. And it's hard to imagine the likes of Walker, Mitchell, Cameron Murray and the like playing any less than they have in the past 18 months – so a yearly haul of 12-14 tries to match his past two seasons seems a fair, if conservative, stab. As reported by this masthead, Johnston has a clause in his new Rabbitohs deal to negotiate at any time with the incoming PNG franchise for 2028, by which point Johnston will be 33. If he's still playing, the smart money is it will be for the NRL's newest side. Adding another 20-30 tries by the time retirement calls feels like a reasonable estimate, so too a new high-water mark of 230-240 tries. And as for who could eventually take the record from him? Daniel Tupou (182 tries and 34 years old) and Josh Addo-Carr (153 tries, 30) are his closest contemporaries, but time is against them. Titans flyer Alofiana Khan-Pereira is the only current player who can trump Johnston's strike-rate. But he's struggled for a game this year at the wooden spooners too. Ronaldo Mulitalo's record surprises a little, with both he and Xavier Coates in with a shot if they keep playing and scoring for another decade. As we mention Tupou, the once baby giraffe who came to truly dominate the airways and left wing for the Roosters, he and Johnston have been the game's most consistent try-scorers of the past decade. Tupou's hat-trick against Canterbury took him past Steve 'Beaver' Menzies into fourth on the all-time list just last week, and he will play on into his 15th season at Moore Park. The double century beckons. Looking at Johnston's year-on-year record, it effectively boils down to this: if he's on the paddock, he's scoring tries. The 2018 campaign – when Souths played a preliminary final under Anthony Seibold and Johnston played the entire year at fullback – is the only season when Johnston was fit and didn't finish with a bagful of tries. The 2021 and 2022 seasons are particular, record-breaking outliers (no-one else scored 30 tries in back-to-back seasons) for Johnston thanks to the introduction of set restarts and attacking players like Walker and Mitchell running riot. Lastly, spare a thought for the Tigers – who always seem to feature in these types of statistics from the past decade, for obvious reasons. Johnston's 20 tries against the joint-venture make them his favourite rival, closely followed by Parramatta and the Roosters (18 apiece). The Rabbitohs won't play finals this year, and are doing well to dodge the wooden spoon. But Johnston securing his share of rugby league history against the Tricolours would go down a treat on the cardinal and myrtle side of Anzac Parade.
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
Wallabies to unleash fastest man in Australian rugby against Springboks
The fastest man in Australian rugby is set to be unleashed against the Springboks, with Brumbies speedster Corey Toole set for a Wallabies debut in Cape Town. Toole is expected to join the side as a replacement for Dylan Pietsch, according to informed sources, after the Force winger suffered a broken jaw in the Wallabies' historic win at Ellis Park. Pietsch underwent surgery in Johannesburg earlier in the week and will be sidelined for the remainder of the Rugby Championship. Toole's call-up comes after several strong years of Super Rugby form for the Brumbies, where the 25-year-old has used his rapid pace to score 28 tries in three seasons; twice being the club's top tryscorer. Before joining the Brumbies, Toole was the breakout star for the Australian sevens team as they won the World Series in 2022, when he was also named Rookie of the Year for the global tour. Toole went viral on social media after scoring a 130m try with sheer pace at Twickenham, after getting the ball inside his own in-goal. Toole is set to finally debut after being selected in five separate Wallabies' squads since Joe Schmidt first took over in July last year, including two Rugby Championship campaigns and the squad for the massive British and Irish Lions series. Schmidt said last year that Toole's debut is a 'matter of when' and indicated he might have won his first cap against Georgia in the July series had the Wagga speedster not been drafted back into the Australian sevens team for the Olympics instead. The Aussie side narrowly missed out on winning a bronze medal. Speaking after selecting Toole again this year, Schmidt said: 'Corey spent time with us last year during the TRC. He didn't get his Test cap, but he was close to it. I think it was another really good Super season from him, putting his hand up.' Toole's raw pace – he can hit elite speeds of 10.2m per second – and finishing have seen him score some insane tries for the Brumbies. But he will also likely be targeted by an aerial bombardment, given his relatively short stature at 178 cm and 85kg.
