Basketball: Tall Blacks explode late to beat Mexico

Thomas Abercrombie had a standout game. Photo / Getty

A phenomenal last five minutes of play has seen the Tall Blacks take down Mexico 78-67 at the Stankovic Cup in China tonight.

Down 63-56 with 4.30 left in the encounter, the Tall Blacks found the offensive burst they had been lacking all game, going on a phenomenal 22-4 run to quell what was a strong fight from Mexico.

Key to the game-ending finish was Thomas Abercrombie, who started the run by hitting four straight free-throws, and capped off the game as a contest with a monster dunk to give the Tall Blacks an unassailable lead.

Abercrombie had arguably his best ever game in a Tall Blacks singlet, notching 25 points on just 11 shots, going 9/10 at the line as he spurred the Tall Blacks' offence throughout the second half.

Although Abercrombie took over in the second half, it was Corey Webster who started off hot for the Tall Blacks.

Much like last night's game against Venezuela, the Tall Blacks came out of the gates firing - Webster knocking in two early triples as Paul Henare's side shot out to a 15-9 advantage.

However, offence was hard to come by from that point, with Mexico dredging out a 22-21 quarter-time advantage before an ugly second quarter played out.

With the Mexicans implementing a lot of zone looks defensively, the Tall Blacks struggled to break it down, scoring just 12 points in the second quarter as Mexico took a 38-33 lead into the break.

Some quick offence from Breakers duo Abercrombie and Webster saw the game quickly tighten back up in the third period, but Mexico stretched a two-point third quarter lead into a seven point advantage going into the final 270 seconds of play.

From there - Abercrombie took over, with his coolness at the line being complemented by his finishing inside, and his thunderous dunk capping off a brilliant individual display.

Webster finished with 15 points on 6/12 shooting, while Isaac Fotu was also proficient at the line, going 7/8 from the charity stripe as he ended with nine points and seven rebounds.

But tonight was Abercrombie's night, and he'll have time to enjoy it - with the Tall Blacks getting a day off before taking on China at 11.00pm on Thursday.