Wednesday, 16th July, 2009

Bill Latham and his Australian team lost a thrilling bronze medal playoff 58-57 at the Under 23 World Championships in Paris yesterday. They forged a tremendous comeback against Sweden after falling behind by 15 points at the half and took the lead with 2 minutes to go. However, a dagger by Sweden's Joakim Linden with 6 seconds on the clock handed the Aussies a heartbreaking 1 point loss.

Australia went 3-2 in the pool rounds and had a good win over Turkey in the quarter-finals before being stunned 86-41 in the semi-final by eventual gold medalists USA. 

The Aussies regrouped and opened solidly against the Swedes with Bill hitting the first 2 baskets of the game. Unfortunately, he picked up 2 quick fouls in less than 3 minutes and had to spend the rest of the quarter on the bench. The team struggled at the offensive end without it's leading scorer and rebounder but the defence stayed tight, restricting Sweden to a 14-11 lead at the first break.

Bill started the second quarter and put his team right back into the contest when he hit a 2-pointer to tie the score 18-18. Sweden had pushed ahead 24-20 when coach Mark Walker was again forced to put Bill on the bench after he picked up his 3rd foul with 3 minutes left in the half. This time Sweden went on a 12-1 run to take a 36-21 lead into the half.

Australia was a different team in the second half. They were playing great defence and forcing the Swedes into poor shots. At the other end, Bill was going off for 10 points in the quarter, making 5 of his 7 shots and nudging his team a little closer to Sweden 48-39 at three-quarter time.

The last quarter was all Australia as they went on an 18-8 run to take the lead 56-54 with 2 minutes to go. Bill had made a crucial basket to tie the game 54-54 and Shawn Russell hit the go-ahead shot, giving him an excellent 8 points for the quarter.

The lead was short-lived when Sweden's hero of the game Joakim Linden hit a 2-pointer with 1:17 left in the game. Sweden then made a mistake that almost cost them the game when Meng was assessed with an unsportsmanlike foul on Kim Robins. Kim missed the first of the 2 ensuing free throws but calmly netted the second to give the Aussies a 1 point lead with 38 seconds remaining. Australia still had possession but failed to make a basket.

Sweden took a time-out with 26 seconds left. They came back in with the intent of running down the 24 second shot-clock and getting off an attempt in the closing seconds. The plan worked to perfection with Linden nailing a 2-pointer with just 6 seconds to go. Coach Walker called a time-out to set up a final play but the team couldn't get a shot and Sweden took the win by the narrowest of margins 58-57.

Bill Latham had 24 points (63% accuracy), 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Kim Robins scored 12 and had 7 assists. Shawn Russell had 11 points and 8 rebounds. Dylan Alcott contributed 7 rebounds and 5 assists, and John McPhail had 4 points and 8 rebounds.

Australia's tournament results

Pool rounds:
Defeated Brazil 75-41
Lost to Spain 45-75
Defeated Malaysia 88-22
Defeated South Africa 76-20
Lost to USA 53-67

Quarter-final: defeated Turkey 64-54

Semi-final: lost to USA 41-86

Bronze medal: lost to Sweden 57-58

Gold medal: USA 77 defeated Spain 54

Photos of Bill Latham courtesy of Matt Wells from IWBF. Many more shots from all the games can be seen at http://www.iwbf.org/!!!Paris_2009/IWBF_Under_23_Paris_2009/Photos/Photos.html