Warrnambool-raised guard Nathan Sobey led the Boomers with 15 points as did Mitch McCarron while Daniel Johnson scored 14 points in an expanded role in the second half.

Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis praised his players who flew back from Doha at the weekend following their win in Qatar on Friday morning. but still hit their straps at game time.

“To beat anyone in international competition by 50 points takes certain resolve and attitude and regardless of the scoreline our application and defence was spot on,” Lemanis said.

“I’m really proud of the group and how they maintained that and didn’t let the game get ratty at any point, we maintained a quality in our performance which is pleasing and tough to do.”

With Iran losing to Japan on Monday night, the Boomers are sole leader in their group and if other results go their way may only need one more win to lock in their place. The top three in the two pools go through to the World Cup plus the best fourth-place getter.

“Just having a casual observation of it, I think if we win our next two games at home we should be in and maybe one win is enough as if Iran come in and we beat them that should be enough,” Lemanis said.

“All we can do is play the games as they present in front of us and if you start getting lost in the results then the results don’t go your way. All we need just to get lost in is playing defence, talking, sharing the ball and playing the right way.”

This was one of the first time the Boomers have been hit by injuries mid-game, but their smaller lineup was impressive in itself.

“We showed tonight that we are pretty amorphous,” Lemanis said.

“Both our five men [centres] went down then Todd Blanchfield and Macca [Mitch McCarron] played the four spot and had fantastic games then DJ played more at the five-spot.

“It allowed us to play a little differently and the guys were like “yep, no worries” and went off and made that change.”

Sobey clearly hit the ground running with 11 of his 15 points in the first half and he said after the game that he was keen to play his best as the Boomers made a rare appearance at a regional venue.

“It’s awesome to get back into country Victoria and my family were here so it was great to see them again,” Sobey said.

“It’s great to have these sort of events in regional places and promote the game.

“As a kid you always want to see the guys you follow throughout your childhood so being able to play in front of those sort of people is huge for basketball in Australia.”

The Boomers' next two games are at Margaret Court Arena against Iran on November 30 and Qatar on December 3.