HAMBURG (FIBA U17 World Championship) – Poland outlasted tired Australia to take a 71-54 win in their Group B clash.

The Australians did well in the first quarter, showing a lot of effort and doing a great job of keeping Poland’s big men from getting involved as they took a 20-16 lead.

However, the Poles fought back and used a 22-5 second period to lead 38-25 at the break. The Europeans were doing a great job of getting out in transition and getting easy baskets while centre Marcin Karnoswski made the most of the mismatches he was presented with.

The Australians regained some of their first quarter form to start the second half and got within 55-47 by the end of the third period.

They managed to get to the basket for high percentage shots as Karnowski had to sit out after picking up his third foul.

But they looked completely drained in the final frame and only scored their first basket of the quarter with 3:30 left to play and it was too late to mount a miracle comeback.

Quotes:

Jery Szambelan, Poland head coach: "The first game is always a key game, it was really important to win. We had very little information about Australia and they knew little about us, so we did not know what to expect."

Guy Molloy, Australia head coach: "I think we played two really good quarters and two bad ones. The up and down was poor. Poland are a very good team and they just kept playing consistently."

FIBA / JB