Boomers seal Asia Cup treble

Australia successfully conquered its third straight title after surviving China, 90-89, in a thrilling 2025 FIBA Asia Cup final duel early Monday (Manila time) at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.

Xavier Cooks led the way while Jaylin Galloway and William Hickey took over in the fourth period to lead the Australians to a big rally after being down by 15 points.

Cooks, who played for the Washington Wizards in the National Basketball Association, erupted for 30 points and nine rebounds while Galloway and Hickey supplied 23 and 15 points, respectively, for the Boomers, who have yet to lose the title since making a debut in this prestigious continental showpiece in 2017.

With that, the Boomers are now tied with Iran with three Asia Cup titles, while China remains on top with 16 and the Philippines with five.

Also, the Australians have yet to lose a single game in 18 starts, underscoring their power and dominance in this biennial event, where the best basketball countries in Asia are seeing action.

The Filipinos, known as Gilas Pilipinas, settled for seventh place in this edition of the Asia Cup after suffering a 24-point loss to the Australians, 60-84, in the quarterfinals.

Australian coach Adam Caporn lauded the character of his players, saying that they refused to surrender despite staring at a 15-point deficit, 21, 36, in the second period.

“The main thing is that I am so proud of the character of our guys. We were down by 15, but we saw our players’ toughness, their problem-solving attitude,” Caporn added.

“We have great people in the program, and in my opinion, that’s why we won.”

True enough, the stars from Down Under refused to quit.

After trailing by 15 in the second period. Cooks caught fire, joining Galloway and Jack McVeigh in powering a furious Australian fightback. The Aussies trimmed the deficit to four at halftime to gain momentum and set the stage for the shocking downfall of the mighty Chinese.

The fourth period, however, was a FIBA classic.

With under a minute left, Hickey’s uncontested putback gave the Boomers the lead for good before Cooks and Zhao Rui traded free throws for a 90-89 count. Hu Mingxuan’s potential game-winner at the buzzer clanked off the rim to spark the wild Australian celebration.

Caporn couldn’t help but make special mention of Cooks’ all-around effort after he shot an efficient 13-of-17 from the field with nine rebounds while constantly breaking down the Chinese defense with powerful drives to the basket all game long.

“I couldn’t speak more highly of Xavier Cooks,” Caporn said.

“He’s played a point forward role for us. Xavier stepped up, he doesn’t always score a lot, having to do more ball carrying for us. He’s played well on both ends. Tonight, the moment called on him to score more, and he did just that.”

Mingxuan carried the offensive load with 26 points and five three-pointers, while veteran big man Hu Jinqiu supplied a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double for the Chinese, who remain searching for the Asia Cup crown since beating the Filipinos in Changsha in 2015 with a 78-67 decision.

Still, it was a mission accomplished for the Chinese as their silver-medal finish only proves that they are capable of going toe-to-toe against the new heavyweight in Asia — the Australians.

“It’s a pity we didn’t win tonight. We only lost by one point,” said Chinese skipper Zhao Rui. whose squad posted five straight victories, including a thrilling 98-84 win over New Zealand in the semifinals, before running into the Australian powerhouse.

“This loss actually motivates us. We can learn from it and improve the areas where we need to improve. Some fans probably didn’t expect a close game, but we delivered a wonderful game for the fans tonight. This one-point loss will remind us to work harder and get better. Today is just the start, not the end.”