Basketball: Tall Blacks beat Hungary in thriller

By PETER JESSUP

The roof was nearly lifted from the North Shore Event Centre in Auckland tonight as a vocal crowd lifted the New Zealand to an 84-81 win over Hungary in the first of five basketball tests.

Late injuries left the home team short of scoring power but they made up for it with energy and enthusiasm with a remarkable late turnaround.

New captain Mark Dickel had been asked to drive them to victory and he did it literally, two late three-pointers giving the team the belief they needed. And it was Dickel who drove to the basket to give the crucial hand-off to Damon Rampton for points that left Hungary without the time to win.

"That's what a point guard does -- you give the openings to your team-mates and if it's not working, well you have to do it yourself," Dickel said.

What started as a sloppy, error-riddled game developed to a late thriller closed out with skill and intensity.

The Tall Blacks' intentions were obvious early on.

Missing 2m-plus Ed Book and Sean Marks and without big men Pero Cameron and Kenny Stone -- all with injuries -- they relied on speed and agility from their guards to play a game the Europeans weren't used to.

It worked -- until they got to the basket, where the circling Hungarian defence smothered their shots.

As the game wore on the Hungarians coolly went about building to their shots and they nailed them.

There wasn't much else to cheer in a dour opening quarter.

The home team led for most of it but opened a free path to the basket as the first 10 minutes wound down to go to the first break down 14-17.

They went to sleep for the opening exchanges of the second spell and scored only two points in five minutes.

Then Paora Winitana sparked things on his home court with a three-point shot and the Tall Blacks ended the half with nine unanswered points to close an 11-point gap to 35-36 at the break.

It must have been a fiery talk from coach Tab Baldwin at halftime as the Tall Blacks went goal-for-goal through the third 10m, both sides producing energetic and entertaining ball.

Hungary shot to a 10-point lead in the third quarter but the Tall Blacks closed again.

Kirk Penney struggled to find his range but Dillon Boucher was strong on the boards and player-of-the-day, Henare controlled the game well at times. Phill Jones was the cool head when points were required.

Coach Tab Baldwin said there was never any question about New Zealand's character.

"There were questions about our ability to execute and our defence, and those are still there."

The second test is at Palmerson North tomorrow night.

Result:

New Zealand 84 (Kirk Penney 17, Phill Jones 15, Mark Dickel 14) Hungary 81 (Kornel David 15, Erno Sitku 13, Gergely Fedor 13, Marton Bader 13, Balazs Simon 13). Halftime: Hungary 36-35.