Tall Black Lindsay Tait goes past Patrick Mills. Photo / Getty Images
Australia' s men's basketball coach Brett Brown deemed it a "win by committee" for his team as they and female counterparts the Opals booked their places at next year's Olympics.
The Boomers and Opals grabbed unassailable 2-0 leads over New Zealand in their best-of-three Oceania championships with wins in Brisbane
on Friday night. Regardless of the results in today's third games in Sydney, they will be in London next year after closing out their series in contrasting styles.
While the Opals secured their ticket to London with a reasonably comfortable 19-point win over the Tall Ferns, the Boomers needed an all-out final quarter effort before they secured their 17-point victory.
Trailing by two points at the end of the third quarter and the game in the balance, Australia dug deep in every facet of the game - rebounding, scoring and defence - to see off the stubborn Tall Blacks 81-64.
They limited New Zealand to just 10 points for the final term - the bulk of which came after Australia's sensational 23-3 run which secured their passage to London in emphatic style.
