The Tall Blacks banked a morale-boosting basketball victory in Canada today, ending a three-match losing streak with a 84-71 triumph over lowly Lebanon.
After consecutive heavy losses to Australia last week and Canada in their opening match of the Jack Donohue International Classic in Ontario yesterday, New Zealandbounced back to beat the world No 23 with relative ease after ruling all but the opening quarter.
Craig Bradshaw led the way with 18 points and the forward was ably supported by shooting guard Kirk Penney, who notched 17.
Ranked 10 places below New Zealand on the current FIBA rankings, the Lebanese led 21-17 at quarter time but the Tall Blacks then exerted almost total control.
New Zealand owned the second quarter 18-10 and although Lebanon stirred early in the penultimate term the combined efforts of Penney, Bradshaw and Nick Horvath put the result beyond doubt.
Leading by eight into the home stretch, the Tall Blacks advantage ballooned to as much as 20 points before they buttoned off.
In a significant boost for head coach Nenad Vucinic, the Tall Blacks shooting stats underwent a dramatic transformation.
During their three previous outings they struggled to achieve a 40 per cent success rate from the field - but today they peaked at an impressive 58.
Shooting beyond the arc also improved drastically with the Tall Blacks landing 11 of 21 attempts.
The Tall Blacks complete their short Canadian tour with a second and final match against their hosts tomorrow.
Canada comfortably won the first encounter 90-63.
New Zealand then head to Slovenia for matches against their hosts plus Puerto Rico and Iran before travelling to Greece for the Olympic qualifying tournament in Athens, starting July 14.
They need to finish among the top three of the 12 competing nations to join the New Zealand women's team in Beijing.
New Zealand 84 (Craig Bradshaw 18, Kirk Penney 17, Nick Horvath Paora Winitana 13, Lindsay Tait 12, Nick Horvath 12)
Lebanon 71 (Rony Fahed 20, Fadi el Khatib 16, Roy Samaha 11). Halftime: 35-31
