PATTY Mills and David Andersen had 17 points each, Matthew Dellavedova added 15 points, five rebounds, and four assists, and Australia drew first blood in the 2015 Fiba Oceania Championship with a 71-59 win over New Zealand on Saturday at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
The Aussies, also known as Boomers, weathered the 22-point effort of the Tall Blacks’ Corey Webster to take Game One of the two-game series for the lone berth for Oceania in the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics.
“I thought we did a good job of just maintaining our intensity, our commitment to the work that's required at the defensive end and that's going to give us a chance to be successful in this series,” said Australia coach Andrej Lemanis, according to a Fiba.com report.
The loser of the series will play in the 2016 Fiba World Olympic qualifying tournament.
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