Giddey stars on debut as Boomers thrash Hong Kong

Injected in the second quarter, Giddey had three assists in just over four minutes before his first spell. It was simply a case of finding his groove, finishing with 11 points and six assists in an eye-catching display against any opposition.

A product of rich Illawarra bloodlines, dad Warrick may be the only person to represent the Australian Schoolboys in three sports in the same year. The Keira High alum did that in rugby league, union and basketball in 1985 before pursuing the latter with the Hawks.

It was the beginning of a career that would take him south to Melbourne and see him notch more than 400 games for the Tigers. His son calls the southern capital home and there'll be no shortage of bids for his services, from colleges in the US to the NBL.

Regardless, those in attendance at Nissan Arena no doubt witnessed the beginning of what shapes as one of the great careers in Australian basketball. Could he be Illawarra's next Next Star? The Hawks faithful can only hope.

There were plenty of other performances to get them excited, in particular Angus Glover's 16 points, six rebounds and four assists that put an exclamation point on an outstanding comeback season.

After an at times indifferent sophomore season with the Hawks, Daniel Grida also excelled on the FIBA stage, finishing with 16 points at an impressive 71 per cent from the field in 18 minutes on the floor.

It wasn't entirely the young bucks show, with Cam Gliddon leading proceedings with 21 points and six rebounds at a tidy 6-9 from three-point range, a 15-point explosion either side of halftime the telling run.

"It felt good, the guys played really hard and I think we played the right way," Gliddon said.

"I think we got up pretty big early but we continued to play the Boomers basketball that we know and everybody has done us proud."

Like many he was left singing the praises of Giddey in the aftermath of a solid international debut, saying the teenager was not out of place on the international stage.

"He's a tall body, he can really move and he's a confident kid," Gliddon said.

"He knew he was playing this game and he came out and did some great things so just a real bright future ahead for him and hopefully he enjoyed it."

After struggling against New Zealand in his side's first qualifier on Thursday, Nathan Sobey was also in double digits with 10 points and six assists on a night that saw the Aussies notch 30 dimes on 39 field goals.

Grida had six of his points in the first term after a sluggish start from the hosts that saw the visitors level-up at 12 apiece midway through the opening quarter. It was as close as the contest got, with Kyle Adnam grabbing 11 of his 14 points as the second unit upped the pace for coach Will Weaver.

It sparked a 15-0 run either side of quarter-time, with the Boomers in cruise control from there as the margin ballooned to 23 by halftime. It blew out to 46 by three-quarter-time and well beyond by the final buzzer.

It was a solid bounce back from the Boomers first defeat to the Tall Blacks in over a decade on Thursday. It also keeps the Aussies well in the hunt for the Asia Cup crown with the next qualifiers coming on the road against New Zealand and Guam in November.