Salim Cheniouni
Doha,
Qatar. Australia, the
2017 Asian champions, proved why they are among the top basketball teams in the
world with a dominant display on Thursday night against Qatar at Al-Gharafa Sports
Club, beating Qatar 43-95.
Qatar were
missing many players due to injury, including two point guards, and it was
clear that they were outmatched by 10th ranked team in the world.
This became especially apparent in the 3rd quarter in which
Australia shut down Qatar allowing them to score just a mere three points to
Australia’s 30.
Before the
game, Qatar’s head coach Tim Lewis spoke about the importance of facing such
big teams for his club’s future. “Every game is important when you play
at this level. You want to win games for your country, so it’s a tough game.
They’re tenth in the world, we’ve got an opportunity to come out and play
against a couple of the best teams in the world for the next three or four
months.”
Qatar’s best player on the court was Tanguy Alban Ngombo,
averaging 14 points and 8 rebounds, but clearly Jesse Wagstaff was the star of
the match with his 18 points and 4 steals.
Overall, Qatar’s stats were the reason for this defeat,
shooting 28% for two-point range, 25% from three-point range, 54% from free
throw, stacking up 21 turnovers.
Qatar now look to improve and implement a new game plan as
they face the Philippines in Manila on Monday the 17th of September
in an attempt to build upon their current record of two wins and five losses.