THE Australian Boomers unleashed a dominant last quarter to beat Korea by 14 points in their FIBA Asia Cup qualifying game in Bendigo tonight.
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In front of a packed crowd of 3917 at Red Energy Arena, the final scoreline of 85-71 in favour of the Nick Kay-led Boomers didn't do justice to just how competitive the game was.
Korea led by as many as 13 points during the second quarter, while several times throughout the Boomers had to rally to keep in touch.
The Boomers cut their 13-point deficit during the second term back to four at half-time as Korea led 40-36 at the main break.
However, an 8-2 run to open the third quarter gave Korea back a double-figure lead before the Boomers again answered the challenge.
The Boomers closed the third quarter out on a 15-9 run to reduce the deficit back to four again at three quarter-time, 57-53.
Having absorbed the challenge from Korea the Boomers then exploded offensively in the last quarter, pouring in 32 points.
The Boomers' last quarter surge was kickstarted by an offensive rebound and dunk from Josh Bannan, in which he was also fouled.
Bannan completed the three-point play, and when Dejan Vasiljevic and Kay, who led the scoring with 21 points, both made back-to-back threes that had the crowd in a frenzy, the momentum was firmly with the Boomers.
Over the final 6:50 of the game the Boomers outscored Korea 30-10 to pull away for the victory.
"This is my second time playing here and I always love it," Vasiljevic said after the game.
"They (Bendigo) do a great job hosting these events, the town gets up and about... it was a sell-out, it was awesome and Bendigo can host more games in the future.
"I always enjoy pulling on the green and gold and to do it in a country town like Bendigo is great."
Coach Brian Goorjian echoed the sentiments of Vasiljevic after what was the Boomers' first game in Bendigo since August of 2022.
"It was great to have the crowd, everybody here has been wonderful and we feel good about promoting the Boomer brand," Goorjian said.
"This is a basketball community; you look at the facilities and what is put into basketball... this and Ballarat are really important and we've really enjoyed being here.
"Everyone who has been here before had been looking forward to coming back."
Kay (21 points), Vasiljevic (14), Ben Henshall (14) and Bannan (11) all scored in double figures for the Boomers.
Both Kay and Bannan had double-doubles for the Boomers, with Tamworth export, Kay grabbing 12 rebounds, including five offensive, and Bannan hauling down 11.
Vasiljevic also dished out eight assists to go with his 14 points.
It was very much a fresh looking Boomers squad that took on Korea, with six players representing their country for the first time - seven-foot-three Rocco Zikarsky, Bannan, Nick Marshall, Jordan Hunter, Kye Savage and Josh Dent.
"I've really enjoyed the group... there has been an energy, excitement and appreciation around wearing the green and gold," Goorjian said.
"We knew coming into this game that it was going to be patchy on the offensive end only having had a couple of days together.
"I told the players afterwards that I liked the way they won. We got a lot of contributions from a lot of people and I thought there was a toughness side to us where things didn't go our way.
"We missed shots and had some breakdowns defensively, but we stayed at it and there was no quit.
"The experienced guys, including the one sitting next to me (Vasiljevic)... I love when a guy isn't hot, but he continues to confidently take good shots and then as the game opened up he was a killer and made the shots that turned the game around.
"We got out of it nicely tonight and I'm looking forward to the next game and enjoying the group."
Korea's standout player was centre Guna RA, who led the visitors in both points (21) and rebounds (14).
"I feel like it was a good game. We played really hard, especially through the first three quarters," RA said.
"In the fourth quarter I felt like the crowd maybe got to us a bit and we got a little tired. Australia is one of the best basketball countries in the world and it's an honour for me to play here and for us to come out here and try to give the best that we have.
"We're a small team, but we have a lot of heart and we showed that tonight; we've just got to finish better."
The Boomers will play their next FIBA Asia Cup qualifying game against Indonesia on Monday.
The Boomers have won the past two FIBA Asia Cup tournaments.
The 2025 FIBA Asia Cup will be played in Saudia Arabia from August 5-17.
