Basketball: Tall Blacks fumble chance for opening win

The New Zealand men's basketball team revealed a familiar character flaw when they suffered their fifth successive loss in the United States yesterday.

The Tall Blacks went down 55-78 to the University of Arizona after trailing 36-39 at halftime in front of a partisan crowd of 5200 in El Paso, Texas.

Coach Keith Mair went to the halftime break quietly confident his charges were capable of earning their first win on tour, but he didn't count on a dismal opening to the second spell. "I thought we could've won it but we dropped our bundle," Mair said.

The New Zealanders conceded four successive turnovers which the University side converted into points on their way to stretching their lead to 11 points. The Tall Blacks suffered a similar setback in their loss to New Mexico State University on Wednesday when a lacklustre performance in the opening minutes of the second half again proved their undoing.

"Some of what we did at the start of the second half was soft. It was the sort of thing you see in our domestic league," Mair said of players panicking when in possession.

"Once we lost concentration we found it very difficult. It is very difficult to win in the US but it is something that can be done and this team has to learn how. It's all about maintaining your concentration. I've tried to tell the guys it is akin to batting in a cricket test where every ball does count."

Mair was impressed with the contribution of hard-working guard Chris Tupu, who had 30 minutes on court during which he sunk 12 points. David Langrell and Rob Hickey both scored eight points.

Mair, on his third visit to Texas with a New Zealand basketball team, was unimpressed with the welcome accorded his team. "The crowd was quite aggro towards us, but we are in Texas. Texans are not renowned as the most intellectual people in the world," he quipped.