Phill Jones hangs up Tall Blacks jersey

Veteran shooting guard Phill Jones has retired from international basketball after 14 years in the New Zealand men's team.

Jones, 34, who debuted in 1994, has made himself unavailable for the national squad to be named this week as coach Nenad Vucinic begins rebuilding the New Zealand roster for the 2010 world championships.

His withdrawal means at least five of the 12-man squad that faced Australia in last year's Oceania championships will not take the court in 2008.

He joins point guards Mark Dickel and Paul Henare, forward Dillon Boucher and centre Tony Rampton in hanging up their jerseys.

Jones' career highlights have mirrored the greatest moments of Tall Black basketball over the past decade.

With longtime ally Pero Cameron, he was their leading scorer (16.7 points) when they upset Australia to qualify for the 2002 world championships in Indianapolis and once there, averaged 18.2 points, to guide them to the bronze medal game.

Perhaps his crowning achievement was the 33-point outburst that dragged New Zealand out of a 20-point hole against China and into the quarterfinals of that tournament.

Jones ranked second among all scorers two years later at the Athens Olympics, averaging 21.0 points, and fired 28 points as the Tall Blacks beat Australia by their biggest ever margin, 72-53 in Napier, July 2006.

Even as he was relegated to bench status last year, he produced a 17-point, 12-rebound double in the Kiwis' 67-58 win over Australia in Brisbane, a performance that will now go down as a fitting finale for one of the legends of New Zealand basketball.

Jones will continue to play with Nelson in the National Basketball League and the New Zealand Breakers in the Australian league.

-NZPA