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Hillard's Boomers defeat Korea to qualify for Asia Cup

24 Nov
4 mins read
The Australian Boomers, featuring Hoops Capital's David Hillard on the staff, defeated Korea by 23 points on Sunday, to punch their ticket to the 2025 Asia Cup.

The spectacular shooting form of Melbourne United captain Chris Goulding continued on Sunday as he knocked down 10 three-pointers as the Australian Boomers - who had Hoopss Capital's lead of sports science and sports medicine David Hillard as their lead physio, won big again in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, beating Korea 98-75.

The Boomers arrived in Goyang fresh off beating Thailand 101-48 back on Thursday night and in that victory Goulding landed nine three-pointers for his 27 points, and he was only just warming up.

Fresh off also landing nine threes a couple of weeks ago for 46 points in the NBL for Melbourne against the Perth Wildcats, the league's most prolific 40-minute three-point shooter showed he is right at the peak of his powers at 36 years age and with 458 games under his belt.

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Goulding has always risen to the occasion wearing the green and gold too including playing at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics.

He put in another dazzling performance on Sunday afternoon to close this current FIBA window and to keep Australian with a perfect record ahead of the Asia Cup next year in Saudi Arabia.

He needed to step up too because in front of their home fans, Korea started well with their team featuring Illawarra Hawks sharpshooting Hyunjung Lee.

Scores were all level at 19-all by quarter-time but it was Goulding with the help of Adelaide 36ers captain DJ Vasiljevic who blew the game open to start the second period.

The pair combining for three triples in the opening minutes before Kyle Bowen joined in on the fun and then the Boomers took complete control going on a 14-0 scoring run.

That including a four-point play fro Goulding with Australia ending up leading 54-32 by the half-time break on the back of shooting 49 per cent from the field opposed to just 34 from Korea.

Korea were able to outscore Australia 26 points to 17 in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 13 by three quarter-time despite Goulding landing his fourth and fifth three-point bombs.

The Boomers took back control in the fourth frame and that included five three-pointers from Goulding on his way to going 10/16 for the game to score 31 points in just 25 minutes of court time.

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Perth Wildcats guard Ben Henshall also hit two late threes on his way to 16 points and eight rebounds with the Boomers cruising to the eventual 23-point victory.

On top of what Goulding delivered, Nick Kay did a lot of the grunt work for 13 points and 12 rebounds with Vasiljevic contributing eight points and seven boards despite going 2/16 from the field.

Bowen added seven points, three rebounds and three assists, Sam Froling seven points and nine boards, and his Illawarra teammate Davo Hickey six points on 3/3 shooting including a final quarter dunk.

Another Hawks star, Hyunjung Lee, scored 14 points to go with nine rebounds, five assists and three steals for Korea while Woosuk Lee top-scored with 17 points and five rebounds.

The majority of the Boomers team will now return to NBL duties with the season resuming this Thursday night with the Illawarra Hawks at home to the New Zealand Breakers.

The next FIBA window as the Asia Cup Qualifiers continue is in February with Australia hosting Indonesia on Thursday February 20 and then Thailand two days later.

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