Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 1:43 AM

The Boomers have been comprehensively thrashed 116-85 by the United States in their Beijing Olympics quarter-final.

Despite staying in touch with the star-studded Americans in the first quarter, thanks mainly to some brilliant outside shooting, the tournament's clear favourite flexed its muscles to streak clear after the first break.

The turning point came after a 30-19 second quarter by the US, which finished the game with a massive 11 more offensive rebounds.

NBA MVP Kobe Bryant and Cleveland superstar Lebron James both led the way with 25 and 16 points respectively, with Carmelo Anthony pitching in 15 of his own.

For Australia, US collegiate Patrick Mills was the standout with 20 points and combined well with fellow youngster Joe Ingles who produced a late cameo of 11 points. Glen Saville picked up 13 points.

"No matter how much you score it doesn't change the outcome, we lost by 30 points, but it was a great feeling to be out there," the 20-year-old Mills said.

"Personally it is just a great feeling to be involved in the greatest basketball tournament in the world."

Australia's star Andrew Bogut was limited to 11 minutes of game time and four points due to injury and early foul trouble.

Los Angeles Laker Bryant scored 11 of his game-high 25 points during a 14-0 run to start the second half, extending a 55-43 lead at the break to 89-61 at the start of the final period.

Frustrated with Australia's physical play in the early part of the game, the US upped the intensity on the defensive end in the third, diving for loose balls and turning missed Aussie shots into high flying fast break points.

"At the start of second half we wanted to come out and we had a particular set we wanted to run. I had a lot of good looks and knocked them down," Bryant said.

"We know they are a good team, they execute very well, (but) our biggest strength is our depth, we are going to wear you down."

As in previous games, the US shared the ball on the attack and found the open man, hitting 57 per cent from the field, including 12 out of 29 on three pointers.

"Standing on the sideline you are 25 down and it is late in the game and you look at the scorers table and they are bringing in Kobe and Carmelo, it was too much for us," Boomers coach Brian Goorjian said.

"Defensively, they are playing great together and everyone is making contributions... they will be tough to beat."

The team of NBA stars breezed through five preliminary round Olympic match-ups winning by an average of 32 points and appearing increasingly intent on turning a disappointing bronze at Athens 2004 into Beijing gold.

Many of James's 16 points came as he attacked the rim for hard fought points in the first half. Centre Chris Bosh and Deron Williams both had 10 points.

Team USA began the game running with Dwight Howard scoring from inside and Anthony hitting from the perimeter as the NBA stars opened an early 15-6 lead and look poised to blow the game away.

But five points by center Chris Anstey and a three pointers from Mills and David Barlow pulled the Boomers to within 25-24 at the end of the first quarter.