Australia dominated Jordan with a commanding 94-42 victory on Sunday night, securing their spot in the Gold Medal game of the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2024 against rivals New Zealand.
Luke Fennell led the charge with an all-round performance, tallying a game-high 24 points, shooting 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, while adding 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and a block.
Emmett Adair was relentless on both ends of the floor, notching a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Jacob Furphy made 13 points, while Dash Daniels chipped in 11 points to round out the offensive efforts.
The Emus set the tone from the opening tip and faced minimal resistance from the host nation and their passionate home crowd.
"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," said Furphy.
"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 offence."
Head Coach Robbie McKinlay praised his team's impressive performance.
"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."
With momentum on their side, the Emus are eyeing a repeat of their 2018 Gold Medal victory when they face New Zealand on Tuesday morning at 2:30am AEST.
