‘Don’t get sucked in’: Lowery’s finals warning

“Keep your head” — that’s the message for the Boomers from Damon Lowery after a fiery clash against Qatar almost threatened to boil out of control on Sunday night.

Will Hickey found himself in the spotlight after a heated moment with Brandon Goodwin, who was hit with a technical foul for chasing Hickey down the court following a physical altercation.

"It's got to be said there were times where Qatar really got under the skin of Australia," Jack Heverin said.

"And that is my biggest worry," Lowery continued.

"If I'm Adam Caporn, out of all the things that could go wrong … what is our worst possible trait? We know who we are offensively and we know who we are defensively. Who are we when the proverbial hits the fan and teams figure, you know what, ‘we can't compete with you athletically, we can't compete with you on the glass. How about we just maybe try to beat you up a little bit? … what have we got to lose?’

"What Davo did, I don't know what happened off the ball, behind the play or possession before that, but what Davo did, like we see in the Australian all the time, that is no big deal. But Goodwin took mighty offence to it, charged at him 100 miles an hour and had Xavier Cooks not been standing there and grabbed him, it would have been a collision … and we know that Davo's not taking a backwards step. So kudos to Cooky."

Harry Wessels was later hit with a technical foul for an “unsportsmanlike elbow,” while coach Adam Caporn also drew a penalty from the referees.

"When things are getting heated like that, we have to be poised," Lowery said.

"Emotional control is what we need in the moment. And I thought we lost the plot a little bit. Capes got a tech, it could have been a bench tech. Somebody said something they shouldn't have said. So we just need to make sure, getting into the finals, that we really keep our head.

"I feel like we got a little bit too hot-headed at times and that is when we're at our worst. Luckily we had the calming influence of Xavier Cooks out there on the floor, because it could have been scenes from the Philippines back in the day."

"There were a couple of moments there that I think the Boomers would probably like back," Heverin added.

Lowery stressed that the Boomers must maintain their composure, even when officiating decisions are not falling in their favour.

"Some of the guys fresh out of college like Reyne Smith, they're probably used to a quicker, softer whistle. Then you have your NBL guys who are used to a different whistle, you have your European guys. Everybody's got to get on the same page and just say, look, collectively, ‘let's not get sucked in’. Simple as that."

The Boomers will meet either the Philippines or Saudi Arabia on Wednesday night, depending on the outcome of their Quarter-Final Qualifier.