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Dejan Vasiljevic has fired away to steer Australia out of danger against Iran and continue their flawless basketball World Cup qualifying campaign.
The sharpshooter had a game-high 23 points in Bendigo on Monday night as the Boomers prevailed 98-68.
There were some nervous moments when Iran scored the first 14 points of the third quarter to earn a surprise lead.
Vasiljevic backed himself, drilling a series of triples to snuff out any hopes of an upset as Australia moved to 8-0 in their pursuit of a berth at next year’s Cup.
The Boomers, coached by Mike Kelly, have been dominant even without their US-based talent like Patty Mills and Joe Ingles, who led Australia to bronze at last year’s Olympics and fourth at the previous World Cup.
Nick Kay (20 points, seven rebounds) provided a cool head while young talent Alex Toohey was also composed and Luke Travers had six blocks.
Mohammad Jamshidi (17 points) proved a handful but the Boomers’ suffocating defence eventually told and Iran’s six-of-25 three point shooting hurt them.
The win followed last Friday’s victory in Bahrain, Australia all but qualified ahead of two more competition windows in November and February before the August tournament, to be co-hosted by the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
