Australia dominated from start to finish to cruise past China 79-44 for their third win of the Beijing Paralympic wheelchair basketball preliminaries on Tuesday at the National Indoor Stadium.
Although China trailed by only 10 points at the half, Australia pulled away with an aggressive defence that resulted in a game total of 12 steals and 23 Chinese turnovers.
Australia's strong offence registered 54 points in the paint and 21 assists. Centre Brad Ness was the game's highest scorer with 31 points.
"We're growing. The competition isn't won on the first day, it's won on the eighth day. We are just hoping to keep building. China threw everything at us today and made a couple of runs, but it's just about getting our processes right and going forward," said Ness.
Talking on the effects of playing professionally in Europe, Ness said:
"You look at Shaun Norris in our team, who spent two years in Europe, and he's just become a monster out on the court. It's just from playing year-in and year-out."
"Just the fact is that you can go and play and train everyday, where you can't do it in Australia because you have to get a job, and then you don't have the time to train," he said.
Ding Hai led Chinese team with 12 points, but he was the only Chinese to score in double digit. China committed 25 personal fouls, almost triple the amount that Australia committed.
In the tournament, Australia is 3-0 and booked a berth in quarterfinals while China is winless.
Both teams will play their fourth group B preliminary games on Wednesday at the USTB Gymnasium as Australia versus Israel, China against the United States.
(Xinhua News Agecny September 9, 2008)