Landale led Australia in the scoring department with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including a massive triple to keep the Italians at bay in the final quarter, while Kay added 15 points while missing just one of his seven shots from the field.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So often Australia's offensive hub, Mills managed 16 points for the Boomers, but was held to an inefficient 6-of-17 shooting night with defenders draped all over him throughout the contest.<\/p>\n
With Australia's starting guard pairing of Mills and Matthew Dellavedova held to a combined 6-of-20 from the field, the trio of bigs – Landale, Kay and Aron Baynes controlled the glass, giving the Boomers 16 offensive rebounds to six, leading to 17 second-chance points.<\/p>\n
Landale, who is still 25 years old and the NBL's reigning grand final MVP, would have done his hopes of attracting an NBA team no harm with his performance.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/twitter.com\/rpjward\/status\/1420325443668832261<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChrisAnstey13\/status\/1420320998000193543<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/DamianArsenis\/status\/1420321210311745540<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/harrytuckerr\/status\/1420325836805181444<\/a><\/p>\n Following Australia's win, veteran forward Joe Ingles admitted that the Boomers still had some areas to clean up, but said the team's goal remains a gold medal.<\/p>\n "That's what we're going for. I don't think anyone's here to lose," he said.<\/p>\n "All the teams have earned their spot here, as have we. We'll look at it tonight and we'll enjoy it for a couple of hours before locking in on the next one."<\/p>\n Simone Fontecchio led all scorers with 22 points for Italy (1-1). Nico Mannion scored 21 for Italy and Achille Polonara had 12.<\/p>\n Italy had gone scoreless for more than four minutes and trailed by eight when Fontecchio cut the lead in half on one possession, draining a three-pointer, getting fouled and making the free throw with 3:48 remaining.<\/p>\n But the rebounding issue was a big problem for Italy throughout and led to a big basket by Ingles about a minute later. <\/p>\n Mills missed a 3-pointer, the Italians couldn't control the rebound and the ball got slapped out to Ingles \u2014 who made a three-pointer of his own for an 80-73 lead.<\/p>\n Mannion scored on a drive with about a minute left to get Italy within three, but Mills answered with a score on the next Australia possession and the Boomers would hang on from there.<\/p>\n Australia is the lone unbeaten team left in Group B. Group play closes Saturday with Italy facing Nigeria (0-2) and Australia playing Germany (1-1).<\/p>\n – With AP<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n