Tamworth’s Nick Kay has starred in Australia’s gold medal win at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
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The Boomers beat Canada 87-47 in Sunday’s final, with Kay posting 10 points, four assists and three steals.
The Illawarra Hawk combined with Nathan Sobey (10 points, eight rebounds, three assists) to spark a scoring run that gave the Boomers a 26-point lead at halftime.
The victory has capped off a stellar 12 months for Kay, after he made his Boomers debut.
The side have won 17 consecutive international games – a streak commencing at last year’s FIBA Asia Cup. Australia won gold in their first appearance in the tournament.
The Boomers then won four straight FIBA World Cup qualifiers before claiming five in a row at the Commonwealth Games.
Prior the Commonwealth Games, Kay said: “It’s going to be a fun time and hopefully we can go up there and show what we’ve been working on for the last year.”
Mission accomplished.
For the tournament, the Boomers’ average winning margin was 37 points.
In the final, every player in the side scored for the fourth time at the Games.
Australia hit 45 per cent of their attempts, including 42 per cent from the three-point line. Eight Boomers had triples.
Defensively they were strong too, holding Canada to 27-per-cent shooting.
Australia now prepare for the last two games in the first round of World Cup qualifiers in late June and early July, when they visit Japan and the Philippines.