Husker Trio Leads National Teams to Wins in FIBA Asian Qualifier

Tai Webster, Keisei Tominaga and Jack McVeigh all played prominent roles in helping their teams to victories in the first round of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers on Friday.

Webster, who was making his first national team appearance since 2019, finished with 12 points, three assists and two rebounds before fouling out in New Zealand’s 106-102 double overtime win over the Philippines to clinch a berth in the second round.

Tominaga came off the bench and had seven points off the bench, including a pair of 3-pointers in Japan’s 92-73 road win in China to clinch a second-round berth. Japan trailed 21-14 before running off eight straight points to close the quarter, including a 3-pointer from Tominaga with three seconds left in the period to give Japan the lead for good.

McVeigh helped Australia to a 124-52 rout of Guam on Friday. McVeigh totaled 14 points, five rebounds and four assists in just 21 minutes of action as Australia built a 65-26 halftime lead. McVeigh had four of Australia’s 24 3-pointers, as they went 24-of-51 from beyond the arc.

Monday’s slate features New Zealand hosting Guam at 2 a.m. (CT), Australia hosting the Philippines at 5:30 a.m. and Japan traveling to Korea, which is also set for a 5:30 a.m. (CT) start.