Emus claim best result in a decade

The Emus secured a 6th-place finish at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup, which gives Australia their best result of the tournament in ten years.

Australia fell agonisingly short to Canada in the 5th-place playoff game, going down 78 to 85, despite a big game from Luke Fennell who had 18 points with five made threes.

The Emus found themselves in the “group of death” for the tournament, which had them face off against the eventual winners USA, for their first game.

A tough 15-point defeat in that, meant the Emus had to bounce back if they wanted any hope of a making it into the medals.

A double-overtime thriller over Cameroon, followed by two big wins over France and Dominican Republic, had the Emu’s facing off against Germany in the quarterfinals.

A tough loss to eventual silver medallists Germany, meant the Emus would play-off in the classification game, initially beating Israel by eight points, before their final game against Canada.

Roman Siulepa was named to the All-Second team after an outstanding tournament where he averaged almost 19 points and nine rebounds per game.

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