Nick Kay will return to the court for the Perth Wildcats on Thursday night after helping the Australian side compete the fifth window of FIBA World Cup Qualifiers with a perfect home record.
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The Boomers recorded their highest score of the qualifiers in Melbourne on Monday night running out 51-point winners over Qatar, 110-59.
Andrej Lemanis’ team played a selfless style of basketball throughout the game, with the Boomers continually showing a willingness to make the extra pass and eventually tallying 32 assists on 37 field goals.
Those passes and a strong presence under the rim highlighted by Nate Jawai and Matt Hodgson (seven points) enabled the Boomers to continually get great looks from beyond the arc and they put their poor shooting night from Friday behind them by knocking down 21-37 on three-pointers.
Kay was one from two from the three-point line in a nine point outing.
He also had six rebounds, three assists and one steal.
Qatar challenged Australia early on as Mohamed Hassan found his own range from the three-point line but the Boomers quickly responded in kind and for most of the first half, were actually shooting better from deep than two-point range.
Jawai (five points, three assists) helped improve that percentage in the second period though and just before half-time, 11 players had hit the scoreboard to give Australia a 16-point lead.
Out of the main break, the Boomers were relentless and began to take advantage of a fatiguing Qatar side.
They begun the third term on a 20-4 run with the likes of Cam Gliddon (17 points), Todd Blanchfield (12 points) and Nathan Sobey (seven points, seven assists) enjoying the freedom while Jason Cadee showcased his offensive game with a team-high 21 points on 7-10 shooting.
Australia tightened the screws defensively as well after Qatar had nailed seven three's in the first half and held their opponents to 14 points in the third quarter.
In the final period, Craig Moller got on the board in his second game for the Boomers to ensure every Aussie had again hit the scoreboard while ten recorded at least one assists.
David Barlow (12 points) then put the finishing touches on the contest with another three, giving Australia their highest score of the qualifiers so far.
The Boomers now have just one window remaining next February when they will travel to Kazakhstan and Iran before preparations begin for the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China and USA Basketball tour of Australia in August.
Kay’s Wildcats face the Sydney Kings on Thursday night before hosting the Cairns Taipans on Sunday.
