Tall Blacks Rout Cape Verde
Tagged in: National Teams, Tall Blacks
Cape Verde may have been a dangerous unknown but the New Zealand Tall Blacks were not interested in the underdog story.
The Tall Blacks scored the game’s first 16 points and shooting guard Kirk Penney scored a game-high 25 points as New Zealand put one foot in the quarterfinals with a 77-50 rout of Cape Verde in the opening game of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens, Greece, on Monday night.
Penney shot 8-of-13 from the field and had 12 points in the first quarter as New Zealand raced out to a 21-4 lead and cruised against 56th-ranked Cape Verde, with coach Nenad Vucinic able to give his bench valuable court time.
Centre Craig Bradshaw finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, captain Pero Cameron had 13 points to go with seven rebounds, back-up centre Nick Horvath corralled eight rebounds and starting point guard Lindsay Tait had seven points and five assists.
The win effectively guaranteed the Tall Blacks a place in the quarterfinals, provided world number nine Germany account for Cape Verde on day two. New Zealand meet Germany in their final group B game on Thursday morning (4.30am NZ time).
“We were really nervous about their team, they’re an unknown ,” said New Zealand captain Pero Cameron. “They had some good results against some teams at the last World Championship.
“We got the win. They had a nervous start, but we have to get ready for the next one.”
Large and in charge up by 22 points at halftime, the Tall Blacks never let the gap sink below 20 points in the second half, with 10 players scoring, including rarely used rookies Jeremy Kench and Alex Pledger.
Penney and Tait scored the game’s first 14 points while the Tall Blacks held Cape Verde scoreless until the 2:53 mark of the first quarter and led by as many as 19 points, with the West Africans missing their first 14 shot attempts and finishing the period 2-of-20.
A Horvath triple 45 seconds into the second quarter gave New Zealand a 20-point lead at 24-4 but Cape Verde answered with seven straight points to get within 13 points. The recovery was brief as New Zealand followed soon after with a 12-4 run, including threes from Cameron and Bradshaw, to end the quarter.
Guard Jeff Xavier led Cape Verde with 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists but often was a lone figure on offence, with Rodrigo Mascarenhas ending with eight points and 11 rebounds before fouling out.
The Tall Blacks finished shooting 47 percent from the floor and 32 percent on three-point attempts but saw their shooting percentages drop in the second half, while Cape Verde never got going after their first quarter shooting funk, ending with 25 percent from the field and 16 percent outside the arc.
“It was a pressure game and it was one we needed to win and everyone was pleased to get it. It was one we needed going into the Germany game,” starting Tall Blacks forward Mika Vukona said.
“We got out to that lead but they’ve got talented individuals and in their last game against Lebanon in the warm-ups they went on an 18-0 run, so they’re dangerous. We were always on our toes and we just didn’t want to let it go.”
Pleasing for Vucinic was the Tall Blacks shooting 24-of-29 from the free-throw line and winning the rebounding battle 50-35, while troubling was the Tall Blacks 22 turnovers.
“Those are definitely worrying,” Vukona said. “And that’s something we can’t afford to do against Germany. We’ve got a day off tomorrow and we need to work on bringing that down.”
In other results on day one, hosts Greece made short work of Lebanon 119-62, while Croatia and Slovenia survived scares before getting Ws. Croatia beat Cameroon 93-79 and Slovenia got by a determined Korean side 88-76.
FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament
At Olympic Athletic Centre of Athens, Greece
New Zealand Tall Blacks 77 (Kirk Penney 25, Craig Bradshaw 14, Pero Cameron 13)
Cape Verde 50 (Jeff Xavier 22)
1Q: 21-4
HT: 42-20 (21-16)
3Q: 60-32 (18-12)
FT: 77-50 (17-18)
Tall Blacks vs Cape Verde Box Score
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