Team Guam suffered a 124-52 loss against the “Boomers” in an away game in Perth, Australia, in the first round of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers Friday night. Australia maintained a high shooting percentage from the start, draining 24 three-pointers. Tyrese Proctor led the Boomers with six three-pointers and 22 points.
The 24 treys is a new FIBA World Cup Qualifiers record.
Earnest Ross led Guam with 22 points. Despite the effort, the team was unable to match the competitiveness of their previous meeting in Guam earlier this year, which ended in a 93-80 loss.
“All credit goes to Australia; they had a great shooting night and we didn’t,” said Ross. “They are #1 in Asia for a reason; they created turnovers and capitalized on them.”
New Guam head coach Mekeli Wesley noted that the game plan focused on rebounding and limiting turnovers, but acknowledged that Australia quickly found their rhythm. “All credit goes to the Australian team, we tried our best to disrupt their shooters, but they got into a good rhythm early”.
For a handful younger players from Guam, this game marked their debut on this stage. “I reminded them to play hard and remember that we are representing the island of Guam,” Ross added. “I told them to ignore the scoreboard and provide maximum effort, and I think we did that tonight.”
The Aussie bench outscored Guam’s bench 69-0.
BJ Freeman contributed 18 points in the effort. Team Guam will now regroup and travel to face the “Tall Blacks” in New Zealand on July 6th.
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