Basketball: Tall Blacks go down fighting against China

8.05pm - By JENNI RUTHERFORD

ATHENS - The New Zealand men's basketball team came excruciatingly close to their first Olympic preliminary round win here, but fell short with a 62-69 defeat to China today.

The loss, the Tall Blacks' second after a two-point defeat against Italy, puts New Zealand's hopes of a top eight finish in jeopardy with tournament heavyweights, Serbia and Montenegro, Argentina and Spain yet to come.

New Zealand looked more alive in the first quarter than they did in their opening Group A match against Italy. They recovered quicker this time from a six point deficit to come within a point after big plays by Ed Book. China scored on the buzzer for a 17-14 lead at the end of the period.

China's advantage extended to 10 points early in the second quarter as the Tall Blacks' foul count mounted during the particularly scrappy spell. The Chinese moved 12 points clear following a three-man collision that left Sean Marks prone. Phill Jones' three-pointer in the last minute put New Zealand back to within single figures - trailing 20-29 at halftime.

Massive 2.26m centre Yao Ming helped China out to a 13-point lead in the third quarter but Kirk Penney, Jones and Book hit consecutive three-pointers to keep their opponents in check.

Mark Dickel's lay-up brought the Tall Blacks within two points in the last 3-1/2 minutes of the third spell. But two quick foul calls on captain Pero Cameron, raising his personal tally to four, gave China extra points at the line and they eased away again.

Another Jones three-pointer - his third of the game - ended proceedings for the Tall Blacks to trail 45-51 heading into the crucial final period.

New Zealand put up another dogfight at the death. Led by Jones, the Tall Blacks threw everything they had at the Chinese but this time, unlike in past matches, they couldn't overhaul the Asian champions.

Point guard Paul Henare said the team must get over starting slow if they are to compete against classier opposition.

"It's great that we can play like that and come back on teams," he said.

"But at the Olympics and world championships in international basketball you can't afford to give quality teams leads like that."

"We have to become a 40-minute team in a hurry and we just made it a hell of a lot tougher for ourselves. It doesn't get any easier with Serbia in a couple of days."

In the end the "Yao factor" proved too much for the Tall Blacks.

The colossus was able to find his mark and score 39 points.

China's next best scorer Mo Ke had eight.

Jones was New Zealand's top scorer with 23 points, followed by Book with 13 and Marks with 11.

Cameron had an off night, failing to score - missing four three-point attempts and all five of his field goals.

China 69 (Yao Ming 39, Mo Ke 8, Menke Batere 7)

New Zealand 62 (P Jones 23, E Book 13, S Marks 11).

Halftime: 29-20

- NZPA