Tall Blacks suffer Olympics blow at Fiba World Cup after loss to Mexico
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The Tall Blacks feel the pain after losing to Mexico at the Fiba World Cup.
At Mall of Asia Arena, Manila: Mexico 108 (Pako Cruz 27, Fabian Jaimes 17, Gabriel Giron 16, Joshua Ibarra 16, Paul Stoll 14, Gael Bonilla 10) Tall Blacks 100 (Reuben Te Rangi 32, Finn Delany 19, Shea Ili 18). 1Q: 31-22, 2Q: 57-41, 3Q: 78-68.
The Tall Blacks’ hopes of Olympic qualification have suffered a significant blow, after losing to Mexico in the first of their classification games at the Fiba World Cup.
Knocked out of the tournament the previous day, Pero Cameron’s side had two remaining games, against Mexico and Egypt to determine their 17th to 32nd placing at the event.
More significantly, the Kiwis were also still playing to keep alive their hopes of playing at Paris 2024, needing to finish as one of the three highest-ranked Asia/Oceania teams at the World Cup to claim a spot in the 2024 Olympic Qualifier series next June.
However, those chances of the New Zealand men’s team featuring at a first Olympic Games since 2004 took a big hit in a 108-100 defeat to Mexico in Manila on Thursday night.
With just a 20-hour turnaround from their loss to Greece, the flat Tall Blacks struggled early against the Mexicans, who, at No 31, are five places below the Kiwis in the world rankings.
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Captain Reuben Te Rangi led from the front for the Tall Blacks against Mexico, but it couldn’t stop his side from tasting defeat.
Going into the game as the second-worst scoring team in the World Cup, that changed dramatically for the North Americans, who roared to a 57-41 halftime lead on the back of their hot shooting.
Six players went on to double figures for the victors, led by Pako Cruz (27), who landed six from nine from three-point-land, and also had five assists.
Captain Reuben Te Rangi led from the front for the Kiwis with a scorching 32 points on 6-9 shooting from downtown, while Finn Delany added 19 points and Shea Ili had another strong effort with 18 points and 10 assists.
Scoring well and limiting their turnovers to 14 – down from the 18 miscues averaged coming into the game – the Tall Blacks instead struggled with their rebounding, giving up 16 offensive boards, and protecting in the paint, with the Mexicans taking a massive 46-26 there thanks to clever passing and penetration to the hoop.
A third-quarter fightback, where they won it by six thanks to Ili at one point scoring 11-straight points, saw the New Zealanders give themselves a shot at a come-from-behind victory, down by 10 heading into the final quarter.
Delany then stepped up with a pair of triples in the final stanza to reduce the margin to six, and Te Rangi caught fire in the final stages – scoring 11 straight, including three triples – to bring them to within four with a minute remaining.
But the Mexicans kept their cool, on the back of 51% shooting, including 14/25 (56%) from beyond the arc, and struck a big blow with 29 seconds left when Pako Cruz (27 points) sunk a three, as a pair of layups from Gabriel Giron then sealed the deal.
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Tall Blacks coach Pero Cameron knows his side have to flush their latest loss quickly if they are to keep their Olympics hopes alive.
“I just want to acknowledge that we may have been a little flat, but Mexico played really well and shot the s... out of it, so hats off to their coach and their group for hanging tough with it,” Cameron said
“We’ve got to put this game aside now and flush it.
“We’ve got to move onto the next game, there’s no easy games at the World Cup, and we next play in a day and a half, so we must turn around and play better. We’re still playing for something, we’re playing for a bid at the qualifiers which is important for us.”
The Tall Blacks hit the court again on Saturday night for what will be a must-win clash against Egypt, who are No 55 in the world rankings, but who put away Mexico 100-72 in group play, and are also coming off an 85-69 win over Jordan, who the Tall Blacks had to go to over-time to beat.
