Goulding catches fire in Boomers victory

Melbourne United’s trio of stars have helped the Australian Boomers to a runaway win against China in the first game of the Ballin24 series.

After a slow first half which saw Australia take a three-point advantage into the major break, Chris Goulding, Matthew Dellavedova and Jack White were injected into the game, instantly providing the boost needed to break the game open.

Inside John Cain Arena, Goulding found his form quickly, splashing three triples and getting to the hoop for an acrobatic finish in the third period.

Many of these buckets came on the back of Dellavedova’s playmaking; the Olympian dished out four assists in the quarter, ultimately finishing with a game-high seven dimes.

By the time the buzzer sounded on the term, Goulding was a game-best +15, while Dellavedova followed closely at +11.

White excelled in his limited minutes as well, playing lockdown defence across the third and fourth quarters to finish with five rebounds, two steals and a block.

In the end, Goulding brought the game to a close with a deep, buzzer-beating three-pointer, bringing his tally up to 14 points and securing the 107-87 win.

“It’s always special to play here,” he said.

After the game, the three-time NBL champion touched on how special it was to represent Australia on his home court.

“Very special to play on home soil in the green and gold so it was good to get things rolling a little bit and come away with that win. Some guys definitely set the tone defensively in the first half and we were able to gel a bit more offensively (in the second half).

“I think it’s a message we definitely want to echo through the group: It doesn’t happen very often that we get to play on home soil so we want to cherish it, we want to enjoy it and Thursday we will definitely do that.”

The Boomers will play the next game of the series on Thursday evening at John Cain Arena from 7:30pm.