Tall Blacks fall to Australian Boomers in Asian Cup semi-final in Indonesia

A backlash in the fourth quarter proved fruitless as the Tall Blacks complained about a slow start to their Asian Cup semi-final defeat to the Australian Boomers.

Pero Cameron’s ‘Baby Blacks’ fell to an 85-76 loss in Jakarta on Sunday (NZ time) in a battle that turned rather tense in the closing stages.

Trailing twelve three quarters of the time, the New Zealanders fought their way back to within two points with three and a half minutes left, only for the Aussies to answer with two clutch three-pointers to Thon Maker and then William McDowell – White.

From there, the world number three held on to secure a place in the tiebreaker against Lebanon, which Jordan took 86-85 in the other semi-final.

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The Tall Blacks, number 27 in the world, showed a very inexperienced side to the eventdue to the commitments of many players’ clubs, plus the fact that the tournament is now a standalone event, with no qualification implications, and next year’s World Cup is the big focus.

But on the back of Beat South Korea in quarterfinalsThe young Kiwis – who entered the tournament with just two double-digit players for their country – showed again what they were capable of.

Sam Timmins and Jordan Hunt led their score by 16 points apiece, Timmins sank 10 of those in the last quarter’s comeback, as well as adding a team-high eight rebounds on the night, with Hunt coming up with a game-changer. high three blocks.

Flynn Cameron contributed 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Kruz Perrott-Hunt (11) was the other to score in double digits.

The Boomers were led by Maker, whose 18 points and nine rebounds were game-high numbers, while McDowell-White scored 15 and seven, and Mitchell McCarron 13 and seven.

After an early 5-2 deficit, Maker’s back-to-back buckets quickly gave the Australians a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, although Hunt’s triple at the buzzer of the quarter of an hour reduced things to 23-19 at the first break .

A stifling full-field defense put pressure on the Tall Blacks in the second quarter and the Aussies scored 9-0, which turned into a 49-37 lead at halftime thanks to their 50% shot on New’s 39. Zealand. %.

Both teams started cold in the third period, and after two and a half minutes the Boomers finally opened the scoring, before the Tall Blacks put in a decent run to equalize the quarter at 17-17 and a dozen lower into the final stanza. to go.

They then indeed gave themselves a chance to get upset, although it shouldn’t be.

“It was a difficult game for us… we could have had a better start, and we could have done better in some areas of discipline,” coach Cameron lamented afterwards.

“But very proud of the group for bringing the game back to a serious fight in the last four minutes.

“I’m just really happy that our team has taken on that challenge. They are young, but we have high expectations, and you have to set those goals, and you have to be accountable, and you have to have these standards that you try to live up to, and these tournaments bring the good and the bad, and you can do things tackle, you grow and you can learn.”

The Tall Blacks now face Jordan in the play-off for Sunday night’s third-place finish (NZT), aiming to improve on their fourth-place finish on their only previous appearance at the tournament, the last event in 2017 in Lebanon.

AT A GLANCE

Australian Boomers 85 (Thon Maker 18, William McDowell-White 15, Mitchell McCarron 13, Tyrese Proctor 13, Keanu Pinder 11) Tall Blacks 76 (Jordan Hunt 16, Sam Timmins 16, Flynn Cameron 15, Kruz Perrott-Hunt 11). Q1: 23-19, Question 2: 26-18, Q3: 17-17, Q4: 19-22.