PATTY MILLS starred as Australia beat Czech Republic 82-70 in Shanghai to reach the FIBA World Cup semifinals for the first time.

The Boomers sealed a sixth consecutive victory in the tournament to make history at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center on Wednesday.

Australia took charge in the third quarter, outscoring the Czechs by 30 points to 18 to seize control and went on to set up a last-four showdown with Spain in Beijing on Friday.

Mills, Chris Goulding and Andrew Bogut played key roles for Andrej Lemanis’ side, scoring 48 points between them to ensure a brilliant performance from Tomas Satoransky was in vain.

Satoransky sunk 13 points, laid on 12 assists and claimed nine rebounds, while Patrik Auda racked up 21 points in defeat for the Czechs.

Point guard Mills shot nine of 15 from the field as he bagged a game-high 24 points, grabbing four rebounds and providing six assists in an influential display. Goulding and Bogut finished with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

“I’m pleased with the game. They’re a good basketball team, and we have a lot of respect for the way they played in this tournament. I thought that with their switching defenses, they caused us to be a little anxious early. We struggled to find our rhythm offensively, but once we did, I thought we did a nice job,” said Australia head coach Andrej Lemanis.

“I think that in the first half we had options to finish with better results. In the second half we had problems on defense. Of course, we’re disappointed, but when time passes we will remember this as a great summer,” said the Czech Republic’s head coach Ronen Ginzburg.

(SD-Agencies)