In a meeting of Goliath and Goliath, 2.11-metre Isaac Humphries and Australia trumped 2.16m Giorgios Papagiannis and Greece to reach the quarter-finals of the Fiba Under 17 World Championship.
Humphries, who scored a tournament-best 41 points in a loss to Canada in his team’s previous outing, led Australia with 20 points and 16 rebounds on Tuesday in an 84-76 win that went down to the last minute.
Papagiannis responded with 12 points and four rebounds, but sat out most of the second half as the Greeks opted for a smaller line-up.
“I think I just have a bit of quickness on him,” Humphries said of his opposing big man, “so I used that to my advantage and I think it worked once I figured it out. But I always like a good challenge.
“I honestly think we haven’t shown anything yet. I think we can do so much better and that’s scary.”
Australia play Puerto Rico in Thursday's quarter-finals at Hamdan Sports Complex.
China booked their place in the last eight with an impressive 79-67 win over Italy. Guard Yanhao Zhao continued as tournament-leading scorer with his second 30-point effort. His 32 points yesterday took his average to 22.3 points a game.
China will face a giant task in the quarter-finals when they meet the United States.
France and Spain will lock horns in the round of eight as well, after the French held off a feisty challenge from the Philippines and the Spaniards dismissed Argentina.
Aaron Noua led the French with 21 points and Stephane Gombauld had 14 points and 20 rebounds in the 86-57 win, after the Philippines had been down just six points at half-time, to the delight of a partisan crowd hoping for a huge upset.
Santiago Yusta had 18 points for Spain in their 64-51 victory over Argentina.
Canada, 106-59 winners over Angola, and Serbia, who beat the UAE 116-31, will meet in the other quarter-final.
jraymond@thenational.ae
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