AMMAN (Jordan) - Australia made quick work of Jordan, 94-42, to complete the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2024 Final picture on Sunday night at the Prince Hamza Hall.
Hardly affected by the partisan crowd, the Emus dictated the tempo right from the jump and faced little to no resistance from the hosts en route to forging a duel with a foe so familiar in New Zealand for the championship on Monday night.
It will be a rematch of the 2018 Final in Thailand, with the Aussies looking to replicate the result of that meeting, which saw them win gold through a 73-62 win.
The young Falcons, on the other hand, will still have a chance to salvage a bronze medal when they face China in the Third-Place Game on Monday as well.
Game heroes: Luke Fennell top-scored for Australia with a game-high 24 points on a 5-of-10 clip from deep, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and a block.
Emmett Adair finished with a double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds. Jacob Furphy made 13 points, while Dash Daniels chipped in 11 points.
Turning point: A Hadi Alshammi triple gave Jordan a 3-2 lead early but that proved to be the only time they'd be ahead as Australia went on a tear and not long after, they've built a huge 23-3 lead heading into the last four minutes of the first.
Stats don't lie: Australia collared a total of 72 rebounds, with Jack Whitbourn contributing 14 as well like Adair. They shared the ball commendably, too, as evidenced by their 26 assists, 10 of which came from Dean Brogan.
They said: "I thought we played a good game. I thought the first five minutes of the first quarter, we really established ourselves defensively. You know, Jordan is a very good team. They run a lot of good actions, and we had to guard that. I thought we did a good job there. I was happy with the way we rebounded the basketball. Finally, we shot the ball OK from three, which was pleasing to see." - Robbie McKinlay, Head Coach, Australia
"The starters, we went out with the mindset that we needed to start off well and we knew that with the crowd being that big, and the emotion of Jordan that would stick around, so we knew that we needed to get out here and get a good start. And I think the boys stuck to the scouting perfectly and a bunch of the bench boys came in and kept the same mindset. I think it was a really good effort defensively and that led to our offense." - Jacob Furphy, Guard, Australia
"We tried. But I do believe that the lack of experience against a high-level team like Australia played a big role, so we want to congratulate also the Australian team ... I do believe that my guys gave their best over the last week, almost every night. That's physically demanding. And the way we're playing our defense is physically demanding. So I think today, the fatigue was obvious." - Wesam Al-Sous, Head Coach, Jordan
"To piggyback off Coach Wes, it was like a lot of fatigue. I think we played five games in six nights. It's a lot of pressure on the bodies of the guys. I think we'll come back and be strong tomorrow. We'll take it as a learning experience." - Saif Saleh, Forward, Jordan
FIBA