Australia's basketball world championship campaign has come to a devastating end, thrashed by Slovenia 87-58 in their second-round match at the Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul.
The young Australians came into the match with high hopes of earning a first quarter-final berth in a major tournament since the Sydney Olympics,
but they were thoroughly outplayed in a one-sided clash.
The Slovenians put 12 points on the board before the brittle Boomers scored and it got progressively worse in a reality check for coach Brett Brown and his squad.
Jaka Lakovic was outstanding for Slovenia, top-scoring with 19 points, but he had plenty of help in a commanding display by the Europeans, who Turkey in the last eight after the hosts eliminated France 95-77.
For Australia, Patty Mills and Joe Ingles finished with 13 points apiece, but the Boomers were never in the hunt and will now turn their attentions to getting Andrew Bogut back in the line-up and preparing for the London Olympics.
It was the first major championship for five of the Australians and with an average age of just 25 the future is bright, but it will take some time for the wounds inflicted by Slovenia to heal.
Key big men David Andersen and Aleks Maric came into the match underdone after struggling with viruses and both had sub-par games, while Steve Markovic missed the match altogether due to illness.
But even if they were all fully fit they would have struggled to match a rampant Slovenian side that played outstanding defence and put on a three-point shooting clinic.
The Australians had hoped to get off to a fast start to settle their nerves, but the opposite happened in a disastrous opening to the game.
The Boomers missed their first 10 shots, took 6:39 to score their first basket through a Joe Ingles lay-up and were fortunate to only trail 16-8 at quarter-time.
The situation didn't improve in the second quarter, with Andersen missing three straight field goals to handcuff Australia's attempts to bridge the gap.
Slovenia then caught fire from three-point territory, with their first four field goals for the term all coming from beyond the arc as they establish a commanding 28-12 lead.
When Lakovic hit another triple with eight seconds left in the half, Slovenia's sixth for the term, they took a 42-21 lead into the long break.
Having managed just 21 points in the first half, the Boomers produced 24 in the third quarter, but it didn't matter as Slovenia piled on 29 to further extend their lead, making the final term irrelevant.
- AAP
Australia's basketball world championship campaign has come to a devastating end, thrashed by Slovenia 87-58 in their second-round match at the Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul.
The young Australians came into the match with high hopes of earning a first quarter-final berth in a major tournament since the Sydney Olympics,
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