Basketball World Cup: Tall Blacks hopes end with 11-point defeat to Greece

Thomas Walkup of Greece goes for the basket against Reuben Te Rangi. Getty Images

The Tall Blacks couldn’t defend a final-quarter lead and were denied passage to the second round of the Basketball World Cup, going down to Greece 83-74 in their final pool game in Manila yesterday.

Needing a win to advance to the second phase of the tournament, the Tall Blacks looked to have a strong chance after holding a 15-point lead in the second quarter. But Greece cut the lead to 54-50 lead going into the final quarter before outscoring the Tall Blacks 33-20 to finish second in the group behind USA.

Ioannis Papapetrou (27 points, 6 rebounds) and Giannoulis Larentzakis (20 points) led the charge for Greece while Tall Blacks guard Shea Ili finished with 27 points.

While New Zealand had a handy halftime lead, Greece came out of the locker room with a renewed intensity in the third and promptly mounted a fierce comeback.

Ili had five rebounds and eight assists along with his 27 points, while captain Reuben Te Rangi added 19 points on 4-8 shooting from behind the arc. Finn Delany registered a 10 point, 14 rebound double-double.

New Zealand outshot their opponents from the field (43 per cent to Greece’s 40 per cent) with the Tall Blacks hitting 11 triples at 44 per cent but turnovers were a killer. The Tall Blacks gave up 21 — which directly led to 29 points for Greece.

Led by Papapetrou and Larentzakis, the Greeks held a massive 50-5 advantage in points off the bench, while also outscoring the Tall Blacks 32-18 in the paint, with 12 of those points coming in the final period.

“I’m happy with the boys’ [effort] tonight, we left it all out there on the court and we came in with the right mindset,” Tall Blacks swingman Jordan Ngatai said after the defeat.

“Greece are a very talented team and a powerhouse team in Europe and that showed down the stretch.

“But I’m extremely proud of the boys, we stuck together through some tough moments.”

Ngatai said Greece came out of the locker room in the second half with a sharper focus, which the Tall Blacks struggled to match.

“Their pressure extended, they had more energy coming out of that halftime. I felt like we didn’t handle it as well as we should’ve — but as the game went on, we found our way through it and started to get our flow together. But it was that initial pressure that they generated [that was the issue].”

The Tall Blacks have two remaining classification games — against Mexico and Egypt — over the next few days which still hold great weight in terms of their Olympic 2024 aspirations.

If they can win both games and finish as one of the three highest Asia/Oceania ranked teams in this World Cup, they will be awarded a spot in an Olympic Qualifier series in June next year.