NZL/CAN - Tall Blacks headed for Istanbul

IZMIR (FIBA World Championship) – The New Zealand Tall Blacks have recorded their second straight victory, 71-61 over Canada to move into the second round for the third successive FIBA World Championship.
 
For New Zealand, Kirk Penney (18 points), Casey Frank (14 points) and Phill Jones (11 points) all reached double figures in a dour affair. Joel Anthony made the most of New Zealand’s lack of interior size, racking up 13 points and 6 rebounds, while Jevohn Shepherd had his best game of the tournament with 15 points.|

After the big win Jones took the time to visit with FIBATV.Com.
 
Both teams looked fatigued early in the game, and after two quick baskets each the score sat at 4-4 until four minutes to play. The quarter time score was just 11-8 to New Zealand at quarter time, Abercrombie dominating the boards to give Canada no second chances, while the Road Warriors zone took New Zealand’s high scoring offence out of its rhythm.
 
Canada kept superstar Penney scoreless in the first term, but in the second a former superstar in Jones stepped up for the Tall Blacks, hitting six quick points off the bench to establish a break. When Penney finally found his range – seven points for the quarter - the half time score was 35-28.
 
New Zealand started the second half on a Lindsay Tait fast break and then went on a 7-1 tear, establishing a double figure lead. But as foul trouble built on Penney, Abercrombie, Pero Cameron and Craig Bradshaw, Canada were able to eek their way back from the foul line and trailed 47-41 at three quarter time.
 
The fourth quarter was another tight affair, with both teams’ defence well prepared for their opponents. New Zealand played it cool though, using the clock and late triples from Abercrombie and Penney to secure a hard fought victory. 

Quotes:

Jevohn Shepperd (player, Canada): It was really hard game. They improved their defence today and that was probably why we lost. We struggled the whole game, we never gave up but we couldn’t get the result. We have improved and this will help us in future tournaments.

Leo Rautins (coach, Canada): New Zealand did a good job, and I think they were more prepared to play than us. We are talking about World Championship. If you come here without your best players and got a team mostly young players, something like our results can be happen. We are a young team and still we have to improve ourselves. But I am happy that we have made some progress even without the results.

Nenad Vucinic (coach, New Zealand): We found it difficult to get open shots from outside. Both teams applied pressure, but Canada were better on the rebounds than us. Pero Cameron did not play a (club) season because of his injury, which is a tough situation. But still he is very important for us both physically and mentally. Finally, we improved our defence today and I am happy about this.

Frank Casey: I think we played very well on defence today. It was important to win this game for us. We struggled hard as a team. We are really happy to win.

FIBA

Paulo Kennedy

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