Basketball On The Internet.

BENDIGO last night was the site of a late Boomers gold rush as the Australian men's team stormed to victory over Korea in their Asia Cup qualifier on the back of a thundering 32-14 final quarter, veteran Nick Kay starring and Perth benchie Ben Henshall making an impressive senior national debut.

It took Brian Goorjian's makeshift latest Boomers crew three quarters to find its offensive rhythm and it was only the program's reliable fallback position - tough defensive work - which kept Korea from increasing its mid-second quarter 13-point lead.

That and Kay's consistent efforts at both ends of the floor which saw the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist finish with 21 points at 50 percent, 12 rebounds, two assists and a steal in 30 minutes of action.

Off the bench, Henshall was the surprise packet, his back-to-back baskets - a three and a two - mid third-quarter slicing Korea's lead from 48-40 to 48-45.

Mitch McCarron (six points, five assists) then trimmed the deficit to 47-48 and the near 4,000-strong crowd inside Bendigo Stadium was rallying, sensing the momentum shift.

Korea played with no fear of the dual Asia Cup champion and it took until midway through the final period for Josh Bannan (11 points, 11 rebounds) to cut the deficit to three with a dunk and bonus free throw.

Dejan Vasiljevic, who delivered his 14 points in 5-of-19 shooting, finally swished a trademark 3-pointer to tie the game and Kay's triple then pushed Australia 64-61 clear.

Korea tied it again and it took two Kay free throws for 66-65 to put Australia in front for good.

Henshall's second three inflated the buffer, Bannan bumped it out further and Vasiljevic's second three of the match meant Korea now was playing the catch-up game the Boomers were stuck in for three-plus quarters.

Vasiljevic compiled eight assists and at one stage the Adelaide 36ers, who finished ninth of the 10-team NBL, had four players on together - Vasiljevic, Isaac Humphries, McCarron and Nick Marshall - none of them looking out-of-place.  

But that alone should reflect the distance between Australia and Korea on the international stage, a distance which should prove even more apparent when the Boomers face Indonesia on Sunday.

Meanwhile in Taipei, New Zealand's Tall Blacks whacked Chinese Taipei 89-69 with NBL players Tom Vodanovich, Tyrell Harrison and Sam Timmins all prominent.

AUSTRALIA BOOMERS 84 (Kay 21, Henshall, Vasiljevic 14, Bannan 11; Kay 12 rebs; Vasilejvic 8 assts) d KOREA 71 (RA 21, Ha, Byeon, J.Lee 9; RA 14 rebs; Oh, J.Lee 4 assts) at Bendigo Basketball Stadium.