Siulepa, Furphy shine for Emus v USA

The Australian Emus might have lost their opening game at the Under-19 FIBA World Cup with Team USA winning 88-73, but there was plenty to be encouraged about with Jacob Furphy and Roman Siulepa combining for 43 points.

USA threatened right throughout the game on Saturday at Lausanne Arena in Switzerland to blow things open including leading by as much as 25 points, but the Emus kept on fighting and even got back as close as 11.

In the end, the USA did prevail by 15 points to seemingly be the favourites for gold for the tournament in Switzerland but there was a lot of reasons to think Australia could compete for a medal too based on the first up showing.

Australia are no strangers to impressive performances at the World Cup from the Emus including the storied team of 2003 led by Andrew Bogut and coached by Rob Beveridge that also featured the likes of Matty Knight, Damian Martin, Brad Newley, Brad Robbins and Aleks Maric.

It was always going to be a significant test first up for Australia against USA especially with Rocco Zikarsky a late scratching after he was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves this week.

USA did lead 25-15 by the end of the first quarter but they couldn’t quite pull away with the margin just 12 by half-time.

The Americans did lead by 25 points midway through the third quarter after a block up one end from Morez Johnson Jr and then a finish up the other by AJ Dybantsa but the Emus kept fighting impressively.

Three-pointers from Roman Siulepa and Jacob Furphy helped them back into the contest and by three quarter-time the margin was just 13.

Siulepa completed a three-point play to bring it back to an 11-point game with three minutes to play and even though the USA won by 15 in the end, there's plenty for Australia to take from it.

Jacob Furphy has been playing in the NBL1 East with the Centre of Excellence ahead of attending the University of Connecticut. He produced 24 points, four rebounds and two steals.

Roman Siulepa showed why he's one of the country's most exciting raw talents with 19 points and 12 rebounds with some strong and athletic finishes around the rim.

Che Brogan has also been at the CoE and put up seven points while Goc Malual contributed five points and five rebounds, and Alex Dickeson five points, three rebounds and two assists.

AJ Dybantsa top-scored for USA with 18 points while Koa Peat added 17 points and 10 rebounds, Chris Brown 10 points and seven assists, and Jordan Smith Jr eight points and five steals.

Next up for the Australian Emus is a match up with Cameroon at 3:30am AEST before the group stage wraps up on Tuesday night against France with all competing nations then getting the chance to take part in the knockout phase later in the week.

FIBA UNDER-19 WORLD CUP – GAME DAY 1

AUSTRALIAN EMUS 73 (Furphy 24, Siulepa 19, Brogan 7)

USA 88 (Dybantsa 18, Peat 17, Brown 10, Johnson Jr 10)

BOX SCORE

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