Boomers bounce back to thump Korea

Australia have responded to their opening loss at the basketball World Cup with a 34-point win over South Korea in Gran Canaria.

Moon Tae-jong (R) of South Korea in action against Joe Ingles (L)

The Boomers are back on track at the basketball World Cup after thumping South Korea by 34 points. (AAP)

The Boomers are back on track at the basketball World Cup after thumping South Korea by 34 points in their second group game.

Less than 24 hours after an opening 10-point loss to Slovenia, Australia responded with an emphatic 89-55 victory in Gran Canaria, Spain on Sunday.

Veteran Joe Ingles led the way with a game-high 17 points as the Boomers completely dominated the boards with 47 rebounds to Korea's 18.

Australia were also delighted to have limited their opponents to just five three-pointers from 25 attempts in what is usually the Koreans' strength.

"I think we did a great job defensively as opposed to the last game," said Boomers forward Cameron Bairstow, who had 13 points.

"We knew coming in that three-point was their main focus and so holding them to 20 per cent from that range was probably one of the biggest keys in the game."

The win rekindled Australia's hopes of topping Group D and provided a timely confidence boost ahead of the crucial match against group favourites Lithuania on Tuesday (Wednesday morning AEST).

"(Lithuania are) a pretty good team, a very good team in fact, and I think it's going to be a great match-up," Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis said.

A Boomers squad boasting great depth had talked up its chances of winning the nation's first ever medal heading into the quadrennial event but they never led in the loss to Slovenia.

Lemanis stressed the importance of responding well against the Koreans and he got his wish as Australia raced to a 10-0 lead early.

Korea fought back to within a point but the Boomers reasserted their dominance to lead by eight points at quarter-time and 44-29 at the main break, with Ingles hitting five of six from the field in the first half.

The Maccabi Tel Aviv star kept up his hot form in the second half, adding five points in the blink of an eye as he made a two-point shot, stole on the restart and then dropped a three-pointer.

Australia were always in control throughout the second half, allowing Lemanis to give young stars including Dante Exum and Nathan Jawai some valuable time off the bench.

Exciting NBA draft pick Exum played almost 13 minutes and recovered from a sloppy start to make some nice contributions late on, picking up two baskets after failing to score against Slovenia.

After starring in the opener, San Antonio Spurs centre Aron Baynes was again a key contributor with 13 points and 10 rebounds as Australia shot with 51 per cent accuracy from the field for the second straight game.

Kim Sun-hyung top scored for Korea with 13.


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