Basketball New Zealand

Tall Blacks point guard Lindsay Tait (Photosport)

It all started so well.

After leading by as many as nine points early in the first quarter, the New Zealand Tall Blacks eventually succumbed to the defensive pressure and outside shooting of the Australia Post Boomers, 94-57, at the State Netball Hockey Centre in Melbourne on Saturday night.

The Beijing Olympics-bound Boomers, ranked ninth in the world, got 18 points from forward Mark Worthington, including 5-of-6 three-pointers, and 17 points from forward David Barlow as they eased to their second comfortable win over an inexperienced New Zealand team in three days and swept the Al Ramsay Shield seires 2-0.

Under stifling and never-ending full-court defensive pressure from the Boomers, the Tall Blacks – missing regular point guards Mark Dickel and Paul Henare, along with starting shooting guard Kirk Penney – committed 20 turnovers, including 12 in the first half.

The Australians, who shot 48 percent from the floor and 42 percent on three-point attempts, also got 13 points from American-born Shawn Redhage and 10 points from youngster Joe Ingles, while back-up point guard Patrick Mills had six assists.

For New Zealand, point guard Lindsay Tait was their best for the second straight game with 14 points, including a pair of threes in the final quarter, while Pero Cameron had nine points and Mika Vukona seven rebounds.

The Tall Blacks shot a skinny 32 percent from the field and 27 percent on 7-of-26 percent shooting from outside the perimeter.

Things looked good early as the Tall Blacks shots were falling and they jumped out to an early lead.
Back-to-back three-point plays from Cameron and Tait gave the Tall Blacks an 11-2 lead at the 6:25 mark, a complete reversal of game one in Auckland on Thursday night when the Kiwis trailed 12-4 early.

A Michael Fitchett three from near halfway with the shot clock expiring gave New Zealand a 14-5 lead and went into the first quarter up 16-13, with Vukona leading the way with five points, including a game-starting three from the wing.

But the Aussies took control of the game from the start of the ending, pushing their intense defensive pressure to full-court and turnovers mounted.

In two separate stretches, the Tall Blacks turned the ball over on three straight possessions, the Boomers scoring seven straight points to go up 33-21, the culmination of a 20-5 run in the first five minutes of the second period.

The Boomers were able to get easy fast break points as they extended the lead to 22 points at halftime, Barlow with 13 points.

Things got no better after halftime, the Boomers going on an 8-2 run to start the third to lead by 28 points and continued to add to it in the fourth.

The Tall Blacks now fly to Canada on Sunday for the Jack Donohue International Classic, two games against Canada and one against Lebanon next week, then to Slovenia for three games and onto the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens, Greece.

Al Ramsay Shield

Game Two

At State Netball Hockey Centre
New Zealand Tall Blacks 57 (Lindsay Tait 14, Pero Cameron 9)
Australia Post Boomers 94 (Mark Worthington 18, David Barlow 17, Shawn Redhage 13, Joe Ingles 10)
1Q: 16-13
HT: 24-46 (8-33)
3Q: 38-70 (14-24)
FT: 57-94 (19-24)