Jai drops eight points in 59 seconds to power Emus gold

• Jai Fa'ale scored eight points in 59 seconds and broke a tied game three times
• Australia beat China 89-79 in Ahmedabad for a third FIBA U18 Asia Cup title
• The Emus took 22 offensive rebounds to China's six and won the boards 51-34

Australian bench guard Bailey Hanson, 18, put up 17 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals as the Emus held off China 89-79 to win the FIBA U18 Asia Cup final at Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Australia tipped at midnight AEST on Monday, August 24, 2026, and led at the end of the first quarter, at half-time, at the last change and at the buzzer. That is a much cleaner line than the game ever felt.

China shot better from the field and better from three, and had the two biggest men on the floor, 215cm Boxin Zhao and 210cm Junxian Li, protecting the rim between them. They lost by 10 anyway.

Australia won it on the offensive glass and at the free-throw line, and neither of those was an accident. The Emus took 22 offensive rebounds to China's six and finished 51-34 on the boards, which is how a side that shot 31-from-82 from the field and 8-from-29 from deep still reaches 89 points.

China fouled 27 times to Australia's 16. That sent the Emus to the charity stripe 30 times, and they made 19.

Fourteen minutes in, none of it was obvious. China led 18-14 with 3:27 left in the opening quarter and Australia had missed nine of their first 12 shots.

Then the reserves arrived, and they arrived together.

Harry Cook, 18, scored inside and added a free throw, Isaac Riddle, 18, scored inside, Josh McCann, 17, buried a three, Yahya Basaran, 17, hit a turnaround jumper and Riak Akhuar, 16, finished a fast break on the buzzer. It was a 12-0 run in three and a half minutes, and it turned a four-point deficit into a 26-18 lead. Ten of the 12 points came from players who started the game on the bench.

China took the second quarter 24-18 and led 42-40 with 1:31 to play in the half after Yuchen Zhang, 16, stepped back into a three. Curtis Evic, 18, and Basaran answered before the break, and Australia went to the rooms in front at 44-42.

The third quarter is where it turned properly, and it turned twice.

Australia were up 55-48 with 6:10 on the clock when China scored the next nine points, through Junxian Li, 18, then Yuxiu Chen, 17, then Yizhaojie Zhang, 16, from deep, to lead 57-55 with 4:38 left.

Zhang tied it again at 62-62 with 2:03 remaining. Seven seconds later Jai Fa'ale, 18, answered with a three of his own to put Australia in front 65-62, and the Emus scored the next four as well to lead 69-62. Fa'ale had eight points in 59 seconds through that stretch, and China never got closer than four again.

Australia led by as many as 15 with 28 seconds to go, at 89-74.

Hanson was the best player on the floor without ever being the leading scorer, and he came off the bench to do it. He went 5-from-9 from inside the arc, missed all four of his threes, and made seven of his eight free throws, including Australia's last four points of the tournament. His four steals were a game high.

Fa'ale finished with a team-high 19 points but needed 18 shots to get there, going 2-from-8 inside the arc and 4-from-10 from three. Those two numbers together are the shape of Australia's whole night.

Basaran, at 214cm the second-tallest player in the game, scored 13 on 5-from-7 shooting with four rebounds and two blocks.

Cook had 11 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Riddle pulled down 10 rebounds for his four points. Captain William Hamilton, 17, and Antonio Browne, 16, added seven and five, and Browne also collected six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Australia's reserves scored 42 of the 89 and took 33 of the 51 rebounds.

Yizhaojie Zhang led China with 20 points on 7-from-11 shooting, 4-from-5 from three, with five rebounds. He does not turn 17 until March.

Li was the game's leading rebounder with 12, to go with 15 points and three blocks. Boxin Zhao, 16, blocked four shots without scoring, and between them the two centres had seven of China's nine blocks. Yuchen Zhang finished with 13 points and a game-high seven assists.

China finished with 16 assists to Australia's 13 and nine blocks to Australia's four, and lost anyway.

Australia led for 28 minutes and eight seconds of the 40. China led for nine minutes and 21 seconds, and the teams were level for 2:31.

SEMI-FINAL – Australia 111 Korea 74

Yahya Basaran had 18 points and 15 rebounds with three blocks, Jai Fa'ale top-scored with 20 on 7-of-10 shooting, and Bailey Hanson handed out 13 assists.

It was a fifth straight win for Luke Brennan's side, who have not been beaten at the tournament. Australia won every quarter, 21-15, 25-18, 34-22 and 31-19, and led for 36 minutes and 37 seconds of the 40. Korea's only advantage all night was a three-point one in the first quarter.

It was still a 13-point game at half-time at 46-33. Australia scored 34 in the third, then opened the fourth with a 12-0 run that took it from 82-63 to 94-63.

Both teams had already secured what this tournament is mainly played for. The four semi-finalists qualify for the 2027 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup, so Australia and Korea both banked their places by winning their quarter-finals. This was for the final.

Korea came in unbeaten themselves, having got past Japan by three in the group phase and taken Chinese Taipei apart 107-79 in their quarter-final. This was their first defeat in five games. Jiwon Yoon led them with 18 points.

Australia have now scored 100 or more in four of their five games in Ahmedabad: 102-32 against Thailand, 107-69 against the Philippines, 110-58 against Chinese Taipei, 90-69 against Iran in the quarter-final, and 111-74 here.

China are unbeaten too. They beat New Zealand 79-66 in the other semi-final on Saturday night, after earlier wins over Sri Lanka, Qatar, Iran and the Philippines.

QUARTER-FINAL – Australia 90 Iran 69

Emus centre Yahya Basaran, 17, went 9-from-11 as Australia beat Iran 90-69 at the Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium in Ahmedabad early this morning to reach the FIBA U18 Asia Cup semi-finals.

It also books a plane to Czechia. The top four teams here represent Asia and Oceania at the FIBA Under-19 World Cup in Pardubice, from June 26 to July 4, 2027.

China, Korea and New Zealand had already banked theirs. Australia are the fourth.

Basaran finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in 23:38, for an efficiency rating of 31.

The game turned inside five minutes of the first quarter, and it turned on a bench player. Harry Cook came off the bench and scored 11 points between the 3:34 and 0:37 marks.

Australia ran off 19 unanswered around him, turning an 18-15 lead into 37-15. Cook went 5-from-6 for the night, and every one of his points came inside that stretch.

Iran had led 3-2 in the opening minute. They never led again. Australia were in front for 39 minutes and six seconds.

Iran shot more from deep than Australia and made more of them, 13-from-37 against 7-from-26, and still lost by 21.

Australia won this in the paint and on the glass.

They went 30-from-55 from two against Iran's 11-from-34, out-rebounded them 58 to 38, and blocked 12 shots to five. Twenty-eight of their 37 made field goals were assisted.

Cook's 11 was matched by Jai Fa'ale, who turned 18 six days ago. Captain William Hamilton, 17, had nine, John Aryang had eight, and Bailey Hanson pulled 10 boards and handed out six assists. Antonio Browne, 16, had seven and seven.

Riak Akhuar, also 16, blocked four.

Iran had the two best scoring nights on the floor after Basaran. Soheyl Soleyman Nezhad buried five triples on his way to 20, and Matin Esmaeili went 5-from-8 for 16 off the bench, including a perfect 4-from-4 from the charity stripe.

Australia's biggest lead was 33, at 70-37 with 3:04 left in the third.

Korea are unbeaten too, and have just taken Chinese Taipei apart 107-79.

New Zealand play China in the other semi-final at 9:00pm AEST on Saturday. Australia are the defending champions, having won the 2024 edition in Amman.

The final is at midnight AEST on Monday, August 24.

GAME 3 REPORT – Australia 110 Chinese Taipei 58

Emus centre Yahya Basaran posted 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds as Australia beat Chinese Taipei 110-58 in Ahmedabad on Monday to win Group A of the FIBA U18 Asia Cup outright.

Basaran also topped FIBA's efficiency rating for the game on 28, ahead of Chinese Taipei's Carter Coleman on 14. At 214 centimetres he is the tallest player in the Australian squad by six centimetres, and he is the youngest of its three centres. Jai Fa'ale led the scoring with 21 on 9-of-15 in twenty-one minutes, Isaac Riddle came off the bench for 14 on 6-of-9, John Aryang added 12, and Curtis Evic finished with 9 points and 12 rebounds. Bailey Hanson and Antonio Browne had eight assists each, Browne with three steals. Australia won the rebound count 74-46 and shot 48.3 per cent from the field.

The scoreline understates how one-sided the afternoon was. Chinese Taipei led for none of the forty minutes. The scores were level twice, there were no lead changes at all, and Australia were in front for 37 minutes and 47 seconds.

Australia put 25 on them in the first quarter and 34 in the second to lead 59-25 at the break, and the margin never came back under thirty after it. A 15-0 run was the biggest of the game. Chinese Taipei's best was 5-0.

The difference was inside. Australia shot 63.2 per cent on two-pointers against 31.6, and won the game while making only 21.9 per cent of their threes, a lower rate than Chinese Taipei managed from the same distance.

That is now three wins from three in the group, by 70 over Thailand, 38 over the Philippines and 52 here, a combined margin of 160 points.

The group is settled. Australia finish on six points and nobody else can reach six, so the result of Monday evening's Philippines game against Thailand decides second place rather than first. Winning the group matters beyond the seeding, because group winners skip a knockout game, and every side that reaches a semi-final qualifies for the FIBA U19 World Cup.

This is also the second title of the week for a coach who has not been home to collect either. Brad Robbins is in Ahmedabad with this squad, and his Warwick Senators won the NBL1 West championship by 26 points on Saturday without him, with NBL championship winner Paul Rogers running the side in his place. The Senators play at the NBL1 National Finals in Adelaide from Friday.

Australia last met Chinese Taipei at this tournament in September 2024 and won that one 113-48. The two results are not far apart.

GAME 2 REPORT – Australia 107 Philippines 69

Australian forward Jai Fa'ale turned 18 on Saturday morning in Ahmedabad, and by that afternoon his Emus had beaten the Philippines 107-69 to move to two wins from two at the FIBA U18 Asia Cup.

He is not the youngest player in the room, and that is the more striking fact. Antonio Browne and Riak Akhuar are both sixteen, and seven of the eleven Australians at this tournament have not yet turned eighteen.

The tallest of them is Yahya Basaran, a seventeen-year-old centre who stands 214cm, six centimetres clear of anyone else in the squad.

That group did something on Saturday that a team of that age is not supposed to do against an opponent who had also not lost.

The Philippines scored the first five points and never led again. In a game of forty minutes they spent eleven seconds in front, and Australia spent the other thirty-six minutes and eleven seconds there.

Australia led 24-19 at the end of a first quarter that changed hands twice and was tied five times, and then produced the 32-15 second quarter that ended the argument, a period containing the 13-0 run that took the margin past twenty for the first time.

The Emus won every quarter, and the closest the Philippines came after half-time was a third quarter they still lost 25-21.

Most of it is explained by the shooting. Australia made 56 per cent of its two-point attempts and 38 per cent from three to finish at 49 per cent from the field, while the Philippines shot 34 per cent overall and 28 per cent from beyond the arc, and the lead reached 42 at its widest.

Australia have now won their two games by 70 points and 38, having opened with a 102-32 defeat of Thailand on Thursday, and the Philippines arrived having survived Chinese Taipei 89-88 on a shot with 2.2 seconds left.

Chinese Taipei are next.

GAME 1 REPORT - Australia 102-32 Thailand (Final)

Centre of Excellence guard Jai Fa'ale, 17, put up 22 points as Australia opened their FIBA U18 Asia Cup title defence with a 102-32 rout of Thailand in Ahmedabad on Thursday, August 13, 2026.

Australia led 21-5 at quarter time and were never headed. Thailand's best quarter was their second, and it still ended 25-14 the wrong way.

The third broke it, 34-8. Australia shot 48 per cent from the field to Thailand's 20.

Five Australians finished in double figures. Jai Fa'ale added seven rebounds, five assists and four steals to his 22 points. Will Hamilton, 17, went for 15 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. Isaac Riddle, 18, had 13 points and seven boards. Antonio Browne, 16, matched him with 13 points, five rebounds and six assists, and threw down a highlight slam.

Yahya Basaran, 17, had 10 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks, and the best efficiency rating on the floor at 27.

Two double-doubles in a first-up game.

Australia led for 39 minutes and 43 seconds of the 40, there were no lead changes, and the biggest run inside it was 22-0.

The Philippines went the other way in the second game of the day, escaping Chinese Taipei 89-88 on a go-ahead shot with 2.2 seconds left, so Group A has two unbeaten teams and they play each other next.

About the Australian Emus Under-18 Asia Cup Team

Australian Emus playmaker Antonio Browne, 16, is one of two ball-handlers carrying Australia's FIBA U18 Asia Cup title defence in Ahmedabad, India, where 16 teams play from August 13 to 23, 2026.

Australia are in Group A with Thailand, the Philippines and Chinese Taipei.

Sixteen teams are split into four groups of four, and all three Australian group games tip at 3:00pm AEST and stream free on the FIBA YouTube channel.

Head coach Luke Brennan is not underplaying the zone.

"We have a pretty decent scout on the teams and the style they are projected to bring. The international game always features big athletes, so we will come up against a lot of physical, free-flowing basketball," Brennan told Basketball Australia.

"The Asian zone is on the up and we know we're going to come across some good teams and players. We're focussed on us and making sure we're the best version of ourselves."

It is Brennan's first campaign leading the program, after a stint as a Boomers assistant. He is an assistant coach at South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Brennan has also lost a guard from the group.

Marley Sam, 17, was injured in the week before the squad travelled, after strong domestic form in the west.

Browne and Centre of Excellence guard Jai Fa'ale, 17 on the opening day and 18 on the third, are the two most likely to absorb that and bring the ball up.

Size is the compensation. Yahya Basaran, 17, stands 214cm, the tallest in a squad averaging a shade under 198cm.

Browne has done this on a big stage, running downhill for the Crocs at the FIBA U17 World Cup, where Australia took bronze.

Australia have entered the U18 Asia Cup twice since migrating to the Asian zone in 2017, and won it both times.

The 2018 title was won in Thailand, who are a Group A opponent in Ahmedabad.

The 2024 title was won in Amman, Jordan, where the Emus beat New Zealand 96-33 in the final.

New Zealand beat Australia 82-62 in the FIBA U17 Oceania Cup final in Apia, Samoa on December 13, 2025, the Junior Tall Blacks' first title in that competition.

Australia had beaten them in the seeding game less than 48 hours earlier, after trailing by as much as 19 points.

Will Hamilton, 17, and Fa'ale led Australia's scoring in that final with 12 points and 11.

New Zealand are in Group B in Ahmedabad, which takes the rematch out of the group phase entirely.

The only place the two can meet is the final phase.