June 16, 2008

Moraga, CA - Saint Mary's point guard Patrick Mill continues his quest to make the Australian Olympic basketball team and participate in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Mills has made it through two rounds of team camps, which began on May 12. The national basketball team of Australia, the Boomers, just completed camp two on June 15, and embarked on a three-game series against Iran on June 16, with Mills participating as the back-up point guard.

Twenty athletes now remain in the squad for 12 Olympic spots, with the final team to be named by July 2. The 20-man roster was reduced to 12 players for the series against Iran, with Mills making the cut. As one of the 12 players to suit up for Australia against Iran, Mills scored 11 points in 16 minutes to help Australia cruise to an 85-68 win on Monday in Perth. Mills was 4-for-7 from the floor, 3-for-4 from the line, and dished out two assists and had two rebounds in his first Boomers game.

The Boomers summer competition schedule will continue on Wednesday with game two of the three-game series against Iran. The game on June 18 will be played in Adelaide, Australia, while the June 20 game will take place in Melbourne, Australia. Following the series against Iran, the Boomers will play two more exhibition games against New Zealand on June 26 and 28, before traveling to Europe for tournaments in Croatia (July 1-4) and Athens (July 7-9).

After the final roster is announced on July 2, the Boomers Olympic squad will complete its third and final camp from July 15-23 in preparation for the Olympic games, which take place from August 8-24. The final warm-up game for Australia will put the Boomers against the United States on August 5 in Shanghai. Currently there is no television coverage for the game between Australia and the USA.