Australia powers off China for third win of men's wheelchair basketball
9/9/2008 17:59
Australia dominated from start to finish to cruise past China 79-44 for
their third win of the Beijing Paralympic wheelchair basketball preliminaries
today at the National Indoor Stadium.
Although China trailed by only 10
points at the half, Australia pulled away with an aggressive defence that
resulted in a game total of 12 steals and 23 Chinese turnovers.
Australia's
strong offence registered 54 points in the paint and 21 assists. Centre Brad
Ness was the game's highest scorer with 31 points.
"We're growing. The
competition isn't won on the first day, it's won on the eighth day. We are just
hoping to keep building. China threw everything at us today and made a couple of
runs, but it's just about getting our processes right and going forward," said
Ness.
Talking on the effects of playing professionally in Europe, Ness said:
"You look at Shaun Norris in our team, who spent two years in Europe, and he's
just become a monster out on the court. It's just from playing year-in and
year-out."
"Just the fact is that you can go and play and train everyday,
where you can't do it in Australia because you have to get a job, and then you
don't have the time to train," he said.
Ding Hai led Chinese team with 12
points, but he was the only Chinese to score in double digit. China committed 25
personal fouls, almost triple the amount that Australia committed.
In the
tournament, Australia is 3-0 and booked a berth in quarterfinals while China is
winless.
Both teams will play their fourth group B preliminary games tomorrow
at the USTB Gymnasium as Australia versus Israel, China against the United
States.
Xinhua
|
