Mills leads Australia past Finland in FIBA World Cup Group E opener

Okinawa, Japan, Aug 26 : Patty Mills scored a game-high 25 points to power Australia to a 98-72 victory over Finland in their FIBA Basketball World Cup opener here.

Australia trailed 17-21 after the first quarter and 30-38 three minutes before the end of the first half in the Group E encounter, reports Xinhua.

But the Tokyo Olympic bronze medalists made a strong comeback afterwards, outscoring the European side 25-14 in the third quarter and 28-18 in the fourth en route to their dominant victory.

Mills, now playing with the Atlanta Hawks, added eight rebounds, four steals and two assists.

Josh Giddey scored 14 points, Joe Ingles added 13 and Dante Exum contributed 10.

Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen was Finlands top performer with 19 points and eight rebounds.

cs