Tall Blacks out of world basketball champs

Reuters

BALL BATTLE: New Zealand's Mika Vukona and Russia's Andrey Vorontsevich fight for a loose ball as Pero Cameron and Russia's Sergey Monya look on during their basketball World Championship game in Istanbul.

Reuters

GET A GRIP: New Zealand's Mika Vukona holds on to Russia's Sergey Monya jersey during their basketball World Championship game in Istanbul.

Reuters

ALL OVER: Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic reacts after losing to Russia in the world basketball championship match.

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There will be no Cinderella run for the New Zealand Tall Blacks at the basketball world championships in Istanbul.

The Tall Blacks ran into foul trouble and the height and long limbs of Russia, bowing out of the tournament in Turkey with a 78-56 loss in this morning's eighth-final.

With both Mika Vukona and then Kirk Penney whistled for their fourth personal fouls mid-way through the third period, it put the Tall Blacks' best defensive and offensive players on the bench for large periods of the game and ultimately led to their downfall, a second straight world championship exit in the round of 16.

New Zealand, led by 21 points from Penney and 13 points from Tom Abercrombie, battled the only way they know how until the final buzzer but were always up against it with the long and well-organised Russian defence, which forced 15 turnovers and took the Tall Blacks out of their offensive rhythm with physicality.

The Russians took full toll of their height advantage, grabbing 13 offensive rebounds to win the rebounding battle 41-25, and had a 34-18 points in the paint advantage.

"It's disappointing," a dejected Abercrombie said.

"We didn't play the way we wanted to and Russia really dominated us in the rebounding stats tonight, an area we've prided ourselves in this tournament. You get beaten on the boards like that and you're not going to win many games.

"Credit to Russia tonight. They outplayed us and deserved to win. We played hard and gave it everything ..."

Russia led by as many as 16 points in the third period, but the Tall Blacks were able to get it back to 11 points and give themselves a small chance at 51-40 with a quarter to run. When Penney drew a foul on a three-point attempt and coverted all three free-throws, it got New Zealand within eight points in the opening minute of the fourth, but it was the closest the Kiwis would get.

Russia, led by Andrey Vorontsevich's 18 points, put on a 12-3 scoring run in garbage time to blow out the winning margin.

Penney, the tournament's second-leading scorer coming into the game, had his own late scoring burst, scoring six late points to finish with his fifth game of 20-plus points despite collecting three fouls in the first half and his fourth in the third quarter. He went 5-of-13 from the floor, but an uncharacteristic 1-of-6  on threes, and 10-of-12 from the foul-line.

The Tall Blacks trailed Russia 31-27 at halftime, with Russia forging ahead with a 13-0 second period run in a low-scoring half dominated by fouls and physical play. New Zealand went over six minute without a field goal in the second period, as Russia went ahead by as many as eight points. Penney has eight points to lead New Zealand, while Vitaliy Fridzon has seven points for Russia, who trailed 15-13 after the first quarter.

Penney was wearing Russian defenders like a second skin but despite their holding, grabbing and bumping, managed to pick up two offensive fouls in the first half, and three overall.

It was the same story for Vukona, who was involved early and often. He grabbed a steal off the opening tip, blocked Sasha Kaun in the lane and then drew an offensive foul on Sergey Bykov, while also scoring in the opening minutes. However he did pick up two quick fouls in the first period, sending him to the bench.

With the referees letting teams go at it, especially down low, tempers boiled over late in the second quarter, when Vukona and Vorontsevich got in a scuffle after a loose-ball scramble on the floor. After a foul was called, Vorontsevich appeared to kick out at Vukona, drawing an unsportsmanlike foul.

Abercrombie, a rising star in Turkey, got the scoring started with a put-back of a Penney miss, but then the Tall Blacks missed three straight three-pointers before Vukona rolled in a shot in the lane. The Tall Blacks took a 9-2 lead after four minutes, following a Pero Cameron screen and Penney back-door cut to the basket.

New Zealand Tall Blacks 56 (Kirk Penney 21, Tom Abercrombie 13) Russia 78 (Andrey Vorontsevich 18, Timofey Mozgov 16, Vitaliy Fridzon 12).

1Q: 15-13

HT: 27-31 (12-18)

3Q: 40-51 (13-20)

FT: 56-78 (16-27)

- © Fairfax NZ News