Boomers Complete Qualifiers with Kazakhstan Demolition

Todd Blanchfield continued to shoot off his frustrations from NBL23 catching fire spectacularly for the Australian Boomers in a crushing 98-53 win over Kazakhstan to conclude the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifying stage.

Blanchfield became the first player representing the Boomers to get past the 30-point barrier since Patty Mills' remarkable 42-point haul in the bronze medal playoff in Tokyo as he starred in setting up Australia's thumping win over Kazakhstan on Sunday.

It was the last of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers for the Boomers and after beating Bahrain 83-51 at the State Basketball Centre in Melbourne on Thursday, they backed up to dominate Kazakhstan on Sunday but didn't have it all their own way early.

Kazakhstan made a real game of it getting back within four points early in the second quarter, but that's when the Boomers took over and took full advantage of the turnovers they were forcing Kazakhstan into.

After Kazakhstan closed within four points, the Boomers scored 19 straight points with Blanchfield scoring seven of those. That helped them take a 19-point lead into half-time and three quick triples in the third term from Blanchfield blew that out to 31.

As the game unfolded, Kyle Adnam also got hot, Daniel Grida and Nick Marshall scored their first points representing the Boomers with dunks and they cruised to the eventual 45-point win.

The result means that the Boomers close the World Cup qualifying stage undefeated in games they played in. The only loss was away to Iran when they didn’t travel on government advice with the World Cup to now begin in late August throughout Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.

The Boomers ended up shooting 48.1 per cent from the field while knocking down 14/32 from three-point land with Blanchfield hitting 7/12 of those and Adnam 3/7 on the court he calls home with the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Australia ended up scoring 40 points from Kazakhstan's 28 turnovers for the game including 24 second chance points from 21 offensive rebounds in a strong all-round performance.

Todd Blanchfield might have had the least productive NBL season at the Perth Wildcats of his 373-game career, but showed again what he's still capable of with 31 points including the seven three-pointers.

Kyle Adnam also finished with 20 points, three rebounds and two assists with captain Nick Kay contributing 11 points, six boards and three assists.

There were plenty more contributors too with Rhys Vague adding seven points, four rebounds and three assists, Mitch McCarron seven points and five assists, Isaac Humphries six points, five rebounds and three assists, Mitch Norton six points and three assists, and Daniel Grida five points.

The game ended Kazakhstan's outside hopes of still qualifying for the World Cup with Ruslan Aitkali top-scoring with 12 points.

On the back of his 20 points on Thursday night against Bahrain, Todd Blanchfield opened up against Kazakhstan with the first five points of the game. He soon hit another to make it 8-3 and Isaac Humphries finished to give Australia the 10-3 advantage.

Another run of seven straight points including a triple from Rhys Vague soon had the Boomers leading 17-6, but credit to Kazakhstan they closed the opening period on a 7-4 run to cut the Australian lead to 21-13.

Kazakhstan continued to be competitive to start the second quarter too. Despite continuing to turn the ball over, they started the second quarter with a 9-5 run. That meant they had scored 16-9 to close the gap to four with 5:45 left in the first half.

After coach Dean Vickerman talked things over with his team, the Boomers responded in stunning fashion to score the next 19 points to blow it wide open.

That included another three-pointer and seven more points to Blanchfield while Kyle Adnam drained a three ball and Daniel Grida scored his first points for the Boomers with a driving two-handed flush.

The Boomers would go into half-time leading 46-27 on the back 25 points from the 20 turnovers from Kazakhstan including 12 fast break points to two, 13 second chance points to five and Blanchfield leading the charge with 15 points.

Blanchfield again opened the scoring to the second half and he then hit three more bombs from long-range as part of a 12-0 run for the Boomers early in the third quarter to see the lead blow out to 60-29.

By the time Blanchfield nailed yet another from beyond the arc, the Boomers advantage was out to 26 points and then two late threes from Adnam before three quarter-time saw Australia leading 79-38.

Alex Toohey opened his account with a three ball to start the fourth quarter before Mitch McCarron joined in the shooting fun. Adnam nailed his third from downtown for the game and then Nick Marshall scored his first points for the Boomers with a dunk to secure the 98-53 win.

FIBA WORLD CUP ASIAN QUALIFIER – SECOND ROUND, GROUP F

AUSTRALIAN BOOMERS 98 (Blanchfield 31, Adnam 20, Kay 11)

KAZAKHSTAN 53 (Aitkali 12, Gavrilov 8, Pan 6, Maidekin 6) 

BOX SCORE