Boomers Fall to Dream Team in Quarter-Final

Published On: 21 August 2008

Shawn Redhage watches on as Dwayne Wade goes to the basket

The Australian men’s basketball team have been knocked out of the Olympic tournament at the quarter final stage, going down to the mighty United States by 31 points on Wednesday night.

West Australian Shawn Redhage saw the least court time of the Boomers 12-man rotation, but did manage to sink a basket and nab a steal in his six minutes on court against the world’s best basketballers.

Australia started the match well and after a physical first quarter trailed the USA by a solitary point.

The early intensity of the Boomers had had the desired result but once NBA superstars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant started to hit their range the Aussies couldn’t maintain the pressure and fell to a 116-85 loss.

Bryant finished as the match’s top scorer, with 25 points while James scored 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

In a major positive for Brian Goorjian’s side 20-year old guard Patrick Mills was the Boomers’ top scorer with 20 points, showing that the future of Australian basketball is in good hands.