Basketball New Zealand

Kirk Rangiawha (FIBA)

New Zealand tuned up for the Youth Olympic Games later this year with a third placing at a junior three-on-three tournament run in conjunction with the FIBA U17 World Championships in Germany.

Fifteen international teams contested the event, held for men and women, at Hamburg’s Sporthalle Wandsbek, using the FIBA33 rules that will be followed in Singapore in August.

The Kiwi team of Michael Karena (Nelson), Te Ra Hodges-Tai (Waikato), James Ashby (West Auckland) and Kirk Rangiwha (Waikato) arrived only the day before the tournament, and were still suffering the jet lag from 32 hours of travel when the event tipped off.

Predictably, they lost their opening games to Israel (34-24) and Central Africa (21-11), but bounced back on Day Two for wins over German club teams Bremerfiaven (33-23) and TV Langen (33-10).

They defeated South Africa 33-11 in the playoff for third and then watched Israel beat Central Africa for the title.

Games are played over two five-minute periods or until a team scores 33 points.

The opportunity to play under FIBA33 rules should prove invaluable in the YOG build-up and has already shown the team better be ready for physical defence any time they enter the lane.

On the positive side, Karena’s play in the low post proved to be a major strength.

The New Zealand team for Singapore has yet to be named. They will face Greece, Serbia, Puerto Rico and Egypt in pool play from August 15-19.