No quit from Tall Blacks in Turkey

Reuters Reuters Reuters Reuters Reuters Reuters Reuters Reuters Reuters Reuters

STIRRING: French players watch as the Tall Blacks perform the Haka.

KIRK SURE: Kirk Penney looks for an open man as France's Mickael Gelabale defends.

DREADING IT: France's Mickael Gelabale passes under pressure from New Zealand's Thomas Abercrombie.

JERSEY SURE: Pero Cameron holds on to France's Florent Pietrus jersey as he runs for a loose ball during their FIBA Basketball World Championship game.

ENTRAPMENT: Tall Black Kirk Penney shoots as he gets entangled with France's Mickael Gelabale.

BREACH: New Zealand's Kirk Penney floats to the basket past France's Nicolas Batum and Alain Koffi.

TOWERING: France's Boris Diaw drives on New Zealand's Mika Vukona during their FIBA Basketball World Championship game in Izmir.

HOLD ON: Lindsay Tait and Thomas Abercrombie celebrate their win as France's Yannick Bokolo walks from the court after their FIBA Basketball World Championship game in Izmir.

FTW: Pero Cameron and Michael Fitchett celabrate their win over France.

HANDS DOWN: The Tall Blacks celabrate their win over France after their FIBA Basketball World Championship game in Izmir.

« Previous« PreviousNext »Next »

Even with the win secured, there was no quit in the New Zealand Tall Blacks at the FIBA World Championship.

In the final minute this morning, the Tall Blacks were comfortably hanging on against France for their third straight win in Group D. But the win wasn't the only thing they wanted from their final preliminary round game in Izmir.

They also wanted to move up in the final group standings and avoid a first knockout round meeting with undefeated hosts Turkey. And the only way to do that was with a win of at least 12 points.

Leading by nine, 75-66, with 21 seconds remaining, the Tall Blacks had secured another impressive international scalp but started fouling France to preserve as much clock time as possible - usually a tactic employed by trailing teams trying to make up a deficit. And it worked to perfection.

After Alain Koffi made a pair of free-throws, New Zealand's superstar Kirk Penney took a pass at the top of the key, turn and shot in one motion, making the three and being fouled by Nicolas Batum. Penney finished off the four-point play for a 79-68 lead with 20.4 seconds to play, but still a point shy of what was required.

Yannick Bokolo answered by making both free-throws at the other end after being fouled, setting the stage for talented forward Tom Abercrombie, who missed six of his first seven field-goal attempts, to drain a three-pointer from the corner with 6.9 seconds remaining that would ultimately boost New Zealand to third in the group and into an eighth-finals match-up with Russia in three days time (Tuesday, 6am NZ Time).

Both forward Mika Vukona and head coach Nenad Vucinic said the team was fully aware of the possible tie-breaker calculations should they be in a position to push out to a 12-point margin.

"I knew it five minutes after the last game what we needed to do if Spain beat Canada. We needed to win by 12 points," said Vucinic.

"We are an experienced team. We've got players that have played in three world championships and that comes into play when we get in those situations."

Vucinic credited the team's "Tall Blacks spirit" for being able to overcome a height disadvantage against France - only losing the rebounding battle 33-31 and managing nine offensive rebounds - and also for pulling themselves out of a 0-2 hole to post three straight Ws.

"There is some Tall Blacks spirit in the fact that we will never give up until the end. We played two world class teams in Lithuania and Spain. We were disappointed because we didn't feel like Lithuania were playing well at that stage of the tournament, although their playing very well now, and Spain are one of the best teams in the world. We had to forget those games because we had must-win games against Lebanon and Canada, and then France."

The Tall Blacks go into the eighth-finals as one of only seven teams with winning streaks of three games or more, but will meet a Russian squad that went 4-1 in Group C and suffered their only loss in a two-point result against Turkey in Ankara.

"We have a tough job ahead of us. Turkey in Turkey is probably a tougher opponent in terms of fans and all that but Russia is a great team ... We have a lot of connection with Turkey. Pero Cameron played here, Mark Dickel played here and I coach here. Hopefully the crowd can help us but who knows."

Penney continued his impressive tournament with 25 points on 6-of-15 shooting, including four three-pointers, and was the big winner in a head-to-head battle with Portland Trail Blazers forward Nicolas Batum, who had just six points and five rebounds, and missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer that would have reduced the winning margin to nine points and seen the Tall Blacks qualify fourth from the Izmir group.

The NZ Breakers guard was at his aggressive best in the second half, not just settling for outside shots and driving to the basket, drawing 10 fouls for the game. Penney, who has four 20-plus point games, opened the game with back-to-back threes, which had the Kiwi fans chanting 'M-V-P M-V-P'.

- © Fairfax NZ News