Australia sink Senegal in Basketball World Cup

DONGGUAN, China: Australia took a giant step towards the Basketball World Cup second round and a spot at next summer’s Tokyo Olympics with a Joe Ingles-inspired 81-68 victory over Senegal on Tuesday.

The Boomers have been touted as a threat in China to reigning two-time champions the United States — Australia stunned the Americans in a pre-World Cup warm-up.They defeated Canada in their opener in Group H — the so-called “Group of Death” — and recovered from an indifferent start to grind down Senegal with Utah Jazz forward Ingles one assist away from World Cup history.

Seven places at the Tokyo 2020 Games are up for grabs in China and Australia could be the first to seal their spot — aside from hosts Japan — if other results go their way.

Australia, who were not at their best, were 36-33 ahead at half-time after narrowly trailing a determined Senegal at the end of the first quarter.Ingles, who admitted that the Australians were “rattled” by Senegal in the first half, was instrumental in the victory with 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists — just one assist short of the first triple-double in World Cup history.

Patty Mills, the 31-year-old San Antonio Spurs guard, was also in the thick of it for the Boomers, drilling 22 points.Coach Andrej Lemanis called Senegal the tallest team he had faced and admitted that his side had been “a little clunky at times” offensively.

“Senegal present some unique challenges with their overall size,” he said.Australian star Andrew Bogut was again booed and heckled throughout by the locals in Dongguan.

The 34-year-old was similarly targeted during Sunday’s victory over Canada because of his barbed comment about Chinese swimmer Sun Yang.Bogut enraged Chinese sports fans in July when he tweeted: “Swimmers who medal vs Sun Yang should break the podiums with hammers...”

The tweet was a cheeky reference to China’s triple Olympic champion missing a doping test after a vial of his blood was smashed with a hammer.The United States, who are missing their major names but still boast a roster packed with NBA talent, play later Tuesday against Turkey.

Also in Group E, Japan’s World Cup hopes were ended with an 89-76 defeat to the Czech Republic despite rising NBA star Rui Hachimura totting up a team-leading 21 points for the Asians.New Zealand, the “Tall Blacks”, kept alive their World Cup dreams with a 93-83 victory over Montenegro.