Photo: fiba.basketball

The Australian Crocs are through to the semi finals of the FIBA U17 World Cup in Türkiye with NBL Next Stars guard Luke Paul shining once more in the 100-86 win over Canada.

The Crocs had booked the quarter-final meeting with Canada for Friday night on the back of beating Serbia, Cote d'Ivoire, Venezuela and Slovenia with a spot in the semi finals going on the line.

It was a dominant start to the quarter-final from Australia with 26 points to 12 in the opening period with seven points each from John Aryang and Riak Akhuar while Paul already had nine points and two assists.

The Crocs had another 25 points to 20 in the second period to be leading 51-32 by half-time with Paul up to 12 and five to be showing the way with Australia shooting 50 per cent from the field to the 28 in the opening half.

Australia kept on building on that lead with another 25 points to 21 in the third period and then despite 33 points from Canada in the final period, the Crocs cruised to the 14-point win to book in a semi-final berth against the USA.

It was another standout performance from the Crocs to end up shooting 53 per cent from the field to 37 from Canada while going 8/19 from downtown to 9/28 and pulling down 55 rebounds to 39 including 13 at the offensive end.

Australia ended up with 36 assists on those 39 made shots and 14 free throws with Paul showing the way once more on the back of his NBL1 East season at the Centre of Excellence, and ahead of joining the Cairns Taipans as an NBL Next Star.

He finished with 21 points, 10 assists, five rebounds and 7/11 shooting from the field with 3/4 from deep.

Will Hamilton also had 16 points and four assists, Riak Akhuar 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and Yahya Basaran 12 points and 11 rebounds.

John Aryang has been playing in the NBL1 West with the East Perth Eagles and stepped up for 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals as well while Antonio Browne delivered eight points, seven assists, five rebounds and two steals.

The semi finals will now take place on Saturday night with Australia attempting to book a place in Sunday's (Monday morning Australian time) final, with all games available live on FIBA's YouTube channel.

Australia 100 - Canada 86

Stat leaders

Luke Paul – 21 PTS, 5 REB, 10 AST
Will Hamilton – 16 PTS, 4 AST
Riak Akhuar – 15 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 2 BLK
John Aryang – 13 PTS, 4 REB, 3 AST, 2 STL
Yahya Basaran – 12 PTS, 11 REB

Fixtures

Australia v Serbia: 9:45pm (AEST) Saturday, June 27
Côte d'Ivoire v Australia: 7:30pm (AEST) Sunday, June 28
Venezuela v Australia: 12:30am (AEST) Wednesday, July 1
Slovenia v Australia: 12:30am (AEST) Thursday, July 2 (Round of 16)
Canada v Australia: 7:30pm (AEST), Friday, July 3 (Quarter Finals)
Australia v USA: Time TBD (AEST), Saturday, July 4 (Semi Finals)