Olympic Basketball 2021: Australia Beats Slovenia to Win Men's Bronze Medal

Patty Mills scored 42 points to lead Australia to a 107-93 victory over Slovenia to capture the bronze medal in men's basketball at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday at Saitama Super Arena in Japan.

Mills, who recently signed with the Brooklyn Nets, knocked down 15 of his 31 shots from the field and dished out nine assists in his latest standout performance for the Australian national team. The Utah Jazz's Joe Ingles added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Boomers.

Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks paced Slovenia once again with a near triple-double, tallying 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, though he did turn the ball over eight times and shoot 7-of-20 from the field (3-of-13 from three).

It was a convincing performance by the Australians, who outscored the Slovenians in all four quarters, including a 33-26 edge in the second to build an eight-point halftime lead.

Doncic knocked down back-to-back threes midway through the fourth quarter to cut the Aussies' lead to six with 4:33 to play, but the Boomers responded with a 10-0 run to put the game out of reach for good.

It's the first time the Australian men's team has won a basketball medal in the Olympics, having lost the bronze-medal game on four prior occasions.

"We've been waiting for this moment for a long time," Mills told reporters. "I don't know whether to laugh, cry, smile. It's a lot of emotions."

The Aussies shot 54.8 percent from the field (40-of-73) and held a 19-8 edge in points off turnovers.

Slovenia turned the ball over 17 times and made just 12 of its 35 three-point attempts (34.3 percent).

Along with another strong across-the-board showing from Doncic, Klemen Prepelic chipped in 18 points and seven boards for the Junaki, who reached the tournament finals undefeated before dropping two straight contests to miss the podium.

Slovenia, which went 9-0 en route to the 2017 EuroBasket championship, was making its Olympic debut in men's basketball.

Earlier Saturday, the United States defeated France, 87-82, to win the gold medal in men's basketball.

The basketball schedule in Tokyo wraps up Sunday (10:30 p.m. ET Saturday in the U.S.) as Team USA takes on the host nation of Japan in the women's gold-medal game.