Pepper heats up as Boomers dominate

After seeing his Perth Wildcats teammate Anthony Dell'Orso catch fire six days ago, Elijah Pepper knocked down eight three-pointers for 32 points as the Australian Boomers stayed unbeaten in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, beating Syria 123-64.

The Boomers have been unstoppable so far in the Asian Qualifiers for next year's World Cup in Qatar as they arrived in the Philippines this week and first up was facing Syria on Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.

It didn’t take long for Australia to assert themselves with the first 11 points of the game and by quarter-time they were on top 27-16 with Pepper already having six points with 2/3 three-point shooting.

As a team the Boomers were shooting 10/19 to the 6/18 from Syria but coach Jacob Chance would have wanted them to tidy up their six turnovers.

The Boomers then took even greater control in the second quarter piling on 36 points including 13/20 shooting from the field and 7/9 at the foul line.

Pepper added another two triples to go into the break with 14 points while the Boomers forced Syria into eight turnovers for the quarter while having scores 22 points from their 11 turnovers at half-time.

Syria only scored 11 points in the term on 5/16 shooting with Australia leading 63-27 going into the locker room also having 14 second chance points to two.

Australia put up another 30 points in the third quarter with 6/12 three-point shooting and that saw them leading 93-43 by three quarter-time with Syria managing just 16 points on 5/13 shooting.

It was then another 30 points to 21 in the fourth period with the Boomers going on to score the 59-point win on the back of shooting 53 per cent from the floor and 14/37 from the outside while collecting 26 offensive rebounds.

Syria ended up with 27 turnovers too for Australia to get up an extra 24 shot attempts and 14 more free throws with Perth Wildcats guard Elijah Pepper on fire with 8/12 three-point shooting for 32 points with two rebounds and two assists.

Anthony Dell'Orso starred in Karratha in his first hit out with the Wildcats against the Cairns Taipans last Saturday. He had another 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals on debut for the Boomers.

Luke Travers showed his all-round talents with 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals with Josh Bannan contributing 11 points and eight boards, and Max Mackinnon 10 points and two assists.

Brisbane Bullets young gun Jacob Holt added nine points and eight rebounds, South East Melbourne Phoenix Next Star Dash Daniels nine points, seven boards and four assists, Angus Glover eight points, five rebounds and three assists, Sam Froling eight points, seven boards and four assists, and Nick Kay eight points and six rebounds.

Earlier, the New Zealand Tall Blacks played a thriller with Iran before eventually prevailing 93-91 with the biggest shot of the game coming from 392-game NBL veteran Reuben Te Rangi with just under two minutes to play in overtime.

The Tall Blacks were able to complete the win from the foul line from there with Melbourne United point guard Shea Ili showing he's ready to fire in NBL27 with 24 points, six assists and two steals including a monster dunk.

Sam Mennenga also had 15 points 13 rebounds, Sam Waardenburg 11 points and seven boards, Te Rangi 13 points and four rebounds, and emerging Adelaide 36ers superstar Flynn Cameron 10 points, six boards and two assists.

‍Australia 123 – Syria 64

Stat leaders

Elijah Pepper – 32 points, 8/12 3PT
Luke Travers – 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
Josh Bannan – 11 points, 8 rebounds
Anthony Dell'Orso – 11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
Dash Daniels – 9 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists