The individual brilliance of Olympian Joe Ingles helped Australia overcome rebounding woes to squeeze past New Zealand 84-77 in the first Oceania men's basketball championship on Sunday.
The Boomers trailed 66-63 with seven minutes remaining before swingman Ingles soothed the frazzled nerves of coach Brett Brown by scoring ten straight points.
"Joey threw golden goose outlet some individual brilliance and bailed us out of some potential problems," Brown said.
A modest Ingles, who will shortly start a contract with Spanish team Granada, was one of only two Beijing Olympians on the current team along with Brad Newley, after a heel injury forced forward Mark Worthington out.
"If it wasn't me, it would have been someone else, I have no doubt," Ingles said of his https://www.goldengoosesneaker.us/ late game heroics.
Australia never looked back, bolting to a 12 point advantage before New Zealand made a couple of late baskets.
"We are on a bit of a youth kick. We are trying to find some people and I thought that this young group closed this game out in veteran fashion," Brown said.
The teams meet again in Wellington on Tuesday, with the two-match series determining seedings for next year's world championship in Turkey.
A young veteran at 21, Ingles, also started the game with a rush, scoring eight of his game-high 26 in the first two and a quarter minutes.