Isaac
Years ago
Boomers open Euro tour with win over Austria
AUSTRALIA 84 S Mackinnon 14, D Andersen 11, D Ryan 11, P Mills 11 def
AUSTRIA 63 - S Stazic 11, B Ortner 10, D Jandl 9
One week ago, AIS basketball star Patrick Mills was leading the Australian Emus Under-19 basketball team to an 8-and-1 record at the FIBA World Championship in Serbia.
Overnight, the 181cm speedster stepped up to play his first game with the big boys in an international friendly against Austria in Italy - and came away as the best Boomer on the court.
It was an historic night for the Australia Post Boomers, who were playing basketball against Austria for the first time in either nation's history, but the making of Mills was bigger than that.
His 11 point, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 foul, 0 assist stat line in 23 minutes on court isn't the numerical stuff of legends, but when he came off the bench mid way through the second period he changed the game and put Australian basketball on its ear.
"This kid's special," said Australia Post Boomers Head Coach Brian Goorjian.
"I didn't know if it was going to be down the track or now, but after tonight I'm thinking now.
"He was our best player tonight and that has made people happy, but it has made people nervous too.
"We have four guys on tour for the point guard spot in a 14-man squad, but we'll only play 12 against New Zealand in August, so somebody has to go.
"There are people on this team fighting for a roster spot and I like that."
"We haven't had a situation like this at the point guard position since I have been with the program."
The other point guards in the squad are newly naturalised Cairns Taipan Darnell Mee, Brisbane Bullet Adam Gibson and Sydney King Luke Kendall.
In a slice of bad luck, Kendall did not play in the match overnight after yesterday suffering a cut nerve in his finger, the result of an accident in his hotel room.
Kendall's head struck a light globe fixed to a low ceiling and the shattered glass ended up in his hand.
With Mills shining on court the injury could not have come at a worse time for Kendall, a Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist, but he will be back in a game or two to contest for a spot with these Boomers.
National Basketball League MVP Sam Mackinnon top scored for the Boomers with 14 points in the 84-63 victory over Austria and was well supported by Russian-based David Andersen and Perth Wildcat Damien Ryan who each scored 11 points.
Austria began the first of three 20 minute periods in an aggressive, physical manner and it took the Boomers some time to adjust but at the end of the first period Australia were ahead, 30-25.
As the Boomers experimented with different playing combinations, the Austrians stayed in the game and actually won the second period by a point, 21-20.
But when Mills unleashed as part of a small, running Boomers line up in the final period the Australians streaked away to take the stanza 33-18 and victory by 21 points.
"We learned a lot about ourselves tonight," Goorjian said.
"This tour is about getting better as the trip goes on so when we face New Zealand in August with Olympic qualification on the line we're ready to go and that's what happened in this game.
"We got better and we finished strong.
The level of competition will go up tomorrow when we play Turkey so we need to get better still and we're going to get better."
Australia plays Turkey in Italy at 7:00pm tonight, which is 3:00am Wednesday AEST.
