The Australian Crocs' under-16 Asian Championships triumph could be set to have positive impacts on the future of Tasmanian basketball.
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The Crocs managed a successful title defence in Qatar over Japan 94-63 which featured three Tasmanians in Launceston's Lachy Brewer, Devonport's Kye Savage and Smithton's Jacob Furphy, who all saw court time in the dominant showing.
"The fact that we have 25 per cent of the team from Tasmania is sensational," Basketball Tasmania state head coach Nic Martin said.
"It's a really big deal for Australian basketball, the success of the team, but then at the Tassie level, there's going to be kids in our future development pathways right now who look up to those guys.
"They're going to go 'I can become them', they can be Jacob Furphy, they can be like Lachy Brewer, like Kye Savage and the impact of that is pretty powerful.
"The actual effect of what they're doing probably won't be noticed for years to come but without a doubt it's going to have a huge impact on basketball here."
The final scoreline belies the Australian's achievement after the Japanese rallied following half-time to cut their lead to two points after being as high as 12 at one stage.
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Following a time-out, Australia settled and put on 21-5 by the end of the third term as they chartered a course to the title.
Savage led the Tasmanian contribution with 15 points to continue his good form while Furphy and Brewer also got on the scoreboard with nine and four points respectively.
The tournament win saw Australia notch their second Asian Championships crown in as many appearances.
While Australia had already booked their place at the under-17 World Cup in Malaga, Spain, in two weeks, the Asian Championships triumph will boost their confidence ahead of the major event against the world's best.
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Savage had a stand-out tournament highlighted by an impressive quarter-final against the Phillipines (27 points) while Furphy was particularly impressive in the semi-final victory with 15 points and four rebounds in 15 minutes.
Martin believes the World Cup stage could further showcase the best of the Tasmanian trio's abilities.
"Kye Savage has had quite an impressive Asia Cup and the style of game that you see at the Asia Cup suits him to a tee. It's a faster-paced game," he said.
"His game style is fast, athletic and high-scoring and that's a big reason why he was able to flourish at the tournament.
"The thing that Furphy does well is he knows his role and he finds these windows where he can be super effective ... I'm really excited to see what he can do at worlds."
After Brewer missed the opening two games of the Asian Championships with concussion protocols, the World Cup represents a major opportunity for the former Riverside Primary and High student.
"I am really confident that [Brewer] at worlds will be able to find his feet a little bit more because they're going to get a little more practice time," Martin said.
"He's a prolific scorer with a real ability to finish around the rim and I hope he's going to find his shooting stroke from the perimeter because once he does that, he'll be a scoring machine."
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