Basketball: Tall Blacks let Aussies off hook

Tall Black Lindsay Tait drives to the basket during last night's game against Australia. Photo / Getty Images

SYDNEY - Senior Tall Black Mika Vukona rued a soft final quarter on defence as the Tall Blacks let a potential basketball boilover slip away last night.

The Tall Blacks fly to Wellington today 0-1 down in the two-game Oceania series after a 77-84 defeat to Australia's Boomers at Olympic Park.

It left them needing to beat the Boomers by eight or more in Wellington tomorrow night to snatch back the Ramsay Shield they last held in 2006, also on points differential when the series was squared 2-2.

The young New Zealanders put in a stirring third quarter and entered the final period leading 64-61, but rising Boomers star Joe Ingles poured in 10 points in quick time to end with a game high 26 and put the contest beyond doubt.

"Disappointing really, especially that last quarter. We didn't execute what we needed to execute down the stretch," Vukona said.

"It's hard for me to say, but as a Tall Black that's not good enough. We've got guys that can play and they proved that in Europe. We should be going out there wanting every ball, jumping on it.

"Wins against Australia are rare so all the boys are disappointed but we've got to bounce back for Wellington, try to beat them by 10 now."

Captain Kirk Penney was given plenty of attention by the Boomers defence and shot just eight of 19 from the field for 23 points.

Breakers centre Alex Pledger, at 2.13m the tallest on court, scored 16 points and six rebounds in a promising effort while Vukona energised the visitors early on and finished with 10 rebounds.

Dallas Mavericks NBA giant Nathan Jawai had an off-night shooting with just five from 15, but still ended with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Both sides were missing key players; Tall Blacks Pero Cameron (ankle) and Craig Bradshaw (unavailable), while the Boomers were without NBA star Andrew Bogut, livewire point guard Patrick Mills and Olympian Mark Worthington who was a late withdrawal with a foot injury.

Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic, whose side were coming off a two-win, six-loss European tour, was irked at the team's finish.

"It's disappointing we didn't finish that final quarter, we didn't run enough in our transition defence, we gave them some open looks," he said.

"We didn't play anywhere near our potential. They did a good job on Kirk, he didn't have a great night shooting but we'll try to rectify things and get him open more."

The coach felt they limited the damage near the end, and were capable of turning around the seven-point deficit in Wellington.

Vucinic said 21-year-old Pledger and 17-year-old, 2.11m Rob Loe were welcome additions for their much-needed height in the New Zealand ranks. The Tall Blacks clearly out-rebounded the Boomers 45-31.

"Alex is proving he's got potential, he played a good game and he knocked a few shots down but he could do much better defensively than he did."

- NZPA